Laveda
Love, Darla (Bar/None Records)
N.Y.C.-based band Laveda's third album Love, Darla provides a lovely shot of throwback, while also sounding remarkably fresh. It's the sort of arty shoegaze that fans of the likes of Sonic Youth and Dinosaur Jr. will lap up. There are elements of grunge and riot grrl in there, but it doesn't sound dated at all. That's quite the achievement.
"With Love, Darla, Laveda creates visceral sounds that mirror the harsh noise and static of the sprawling cityscape," reads a statement. "[Ali] Genevich’s lyrics reflect chaotic nights stumbling through the city in a drunken fog, confronting the anxieties of a conflicted and incongruent world, and the struggle to find and hold onto things worth loving and living for."
Uncompromising, unrelenting indie gems like "Care" and "I Wish" are highlights of an impressive record. The LP has been mixed by Martin Bisi (Sonic Youth, Boredoms, Helmet) on 100 percent recycled vinyl. "Colors will vary," they say, "but it's very good for the environment." Ours came out a green grey, and we kinda like it.
SAADI
Birds of Paradise (Switch Hit Records)
SAADI is the solo project of Syrian-American multidisciplinary artist Boshra AlSaadi, and Birds of Paradise is her sophomore album.
"'Gotcha!' explores the seduction of organized religion and its perks, as well as our complicity in the daily horrors that come out of this cult of faith," AlSaadi says. "The song is musically inspired by the Sierra Leonean Bubu music of Ahmed Janka Nabay, who was a very influential musical collaborator until he passed in 2017. I had access to a variety of analogue synths at Chris Coady's studio in Glendale, CA and was lucky enough to use them to create the tapestry of sound underpinning the beat."
The artist, a fixture of New York’s experimental and indie scenes, sent us a test pressing which felt like a rare treat, like we were in on a secret thanks to the handwritten label on the LP.
“Birds of Paradise is a post-apocalyptic record for me," she says. "It was culled from the ashes of so much destruction. I had lost some mobility and the ability to tour. My collaborator and friend had passed away unexpectedly. America was pivoting to the right. I was disillusioned about everything: art, music, politics, religion, relationships, justice, family. After dramatically disavowing art and music, I enrolled as a biology student at CUNY. The hard sciences rocked me! I was underweight, underslept, and miserable."
You have to dig through the sweet melodies to find the nihilism in the lyrics. There's a Bow Wow Wow-esque lullaby quality to SAADI's alt-pop, and that juxtaposition with the subject matter is beautifully fascinating.
Brandee Younger
Gadabout Season (Impulse! Records)
One of the joys of this job is that you don't always know what you're going to be listening to. If your mind is open enough, that's a thrilling proposition because you'll discover new delights all of the time.
For example, we never would have thought to ourselves, "Let's play an album of harp music." It just never would have come up. It would have been our loss, as it turns out.
Gadabout Season is GRAMMY-nominated harpist Brandee Younger's third album for Impulse! Records, and it's stunning. Magical, delicate and powerful, it's genuinely affecting.
"The album reflects the journey — the search for meaning and beauty amid life's most complex moments, ultimately emerging with a deeper sense of self," says Younger. "Musically Gadabout Season is more creative and slightly more cerebral than my other works."
The songs are instrumentals, and the album flows wonderfully so there's little point picking out individual tracks. But it works as a true window into Younger's soul and, as she writes on the sleeve notes, "an exploration of life's complexities and the resilience found within music."
