Review: Lotte Kestner- Until EP
It’s only been two months since singer-
songwriter Anna-Lynne Williams dropped The Bluebird of Happiness, the
third full-length LP she’s put out under the Lotte Kestner moniker. Believe it or
not, Williams is back with a self-released companion EP, Until, a collection
of eight songs—some of which are outtakes from the Bluebird sessions, along with experiments, old songs that were
written and just newly recorded, or songs that were intended for her old band
Trespassers William.
The first two songs on Until are in the
same vein as “Eggshells,” the dark, synth-heavy track from Bluebird. The
EP opens with “Confession,” a track that begins with an interesting, phone dial
pad-esq keyboard riff, before somberly plucked acoustic guitar strings clear
the way. The second song, “Flap,” features some dope beats—uncharacteristic of
Williams’s canon thus far—and is propelled forward by some very spacey,
hypnotic synth tones.
The EP’s standout track comes third—“Bell Under
Water” is a moody and restrained meditation, anchored down by Williams’s
wordless singing that serves as an ethereal refrain. The second half of Until
finds Williams shedding the experimentation of the first few tracks, and heads
back into the sparse, downcast acoustic guitar songs that she is excellent crafting.
The closing track, “To Stand In” is a perfect example of that, while the song
prior to that, “Bright to be True,” is one of the only songs to feature more
instrumentation, courtesy of her former Trespassers band mates.
There’s always a slight risk in releasing a second set of material shortly after you’ve already put out an album. If this were a release by a lesser artist, it could come off as being an “odds and ends” collection. However, due to Williams’s strength as a songwriter, Until is very capable of standing on its own. Even though these tracks are pulled from different recording sessions and different times, they all sound very natural when you listen from start to finish. The sequencing of the songs also helps; Until flows seamlessly from the first half into the second.
In the
review of Until written by the folks
at The Big Takeover, it’s mentioned
that this EP is slightly “darker” than Bluebird.
After letting that idea sink in for a minute, I would agree. Until has a heavier weight to much of
the material. Also, the artwork for each is staggeringly different. Bluebird features a haunting photograph
from Desiree Doldron—the composition and subject matter give off an almost
baroque-era feeling. While Until’s
cover features the black and white image of a jelly fish, and all of the text
is in a large, heavy, all caps font—black text on an even blacker background.
If you
slept on The Bluebird of Happiness,
shame on you—it’s a remarkable album. So you should do yourself a big favor and
peep that. And when you’ve finished, turn your attention to Until. Playing them back-to-back
showcases the how diverse yet cohesive the songs of Anna-Lynne Williams are.
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