Album Review: Noveller- No Dreams
No offense to Sarah Lipstate, but I totally meant to get
around to reviewing her new LP, No Dreams,
around the time of its release—which was a minute ago. But somehow, it kept
falling to the bottom of the pile, with me choosing to favor marquee name releases
or write stuff for other blogs, rather than sit down and write about it. It
eventually ended up in a list titled “Late,”
along with the Mono VS Stereo comparison I meant to write about with Kind of Blue.
I originally heard of Lipstate’s Noveller project in a bit
of a round about way. I went to my first (and only) house show in the summer of
2012, where I saw my Internet friend Kevin Greenspon play an incredible set in
support of last year’s Maroon Bells.
He was on the bill with a bunch of other house show, DIY performers both local
to the Twin Cities as well as touring acts. One of those acts was Milwaukee’s
Lucky Bone.
Lucky Bone is the work of a giant mustached man named Neil
Gravander. Experimental doesn’t even begin to describe his set that night—one
piece involved videotape manipulation. The other involved a very jarring yet
rhythmic sequence of broken electronics being tinkered with—tape decks, record
players, etc. It was nothing short of remarkable.
But I’m supposed to be writing about Sarah Lipstate here.
Anyway, in Googling Lucky Bone, turns out that Gravander
himself sucks at having an Internet presence (it is tough to keep that up, let
me tell you) but you’ll get a few hits from his name on the Experimental
Milwaukee collective’s website. In their webstore is a 7” single from Noveller,
with the simple description of “lush guitar drones.”
So sign me up.
2013 was a big year for Lipstate—aside from the release of No Dreams, she had a track included on
the Ghostly International Opiate compilation—the all too short, contemplative track “Bright Clouds Bloom,” and
she’s current on a short, national tour with likeminded artist, the
experimental organ player Anna von Hausswolff.
Like all excellent experimental/ambient/drone artists,
Lipstate does an incredible job of evoking emotion—specifically on the album’s title
track; her distorted, feedback-laden lead guitar work conjuring up a deep
sadness, whether intentionally or not. She conjures a similar vibe towards the
end of the album on “The Fight,” a piece divided into two distinct sections:
the first being incredibly gorgeous and restrained, and the second being, well…frightening,
as she works towards an settling dissonance.
Lipstate, like many experimental guitarists, works with
layers, weaving them intricately throughout the course of a given piece. On
“Gathering The Elements,” a frenetically bowed guitar continues to build over
the top of some ghostly atmospherics, before everything explodes into cacophony
within the final 40 seconds.
The danger within genres like this is that pieces on the
same album can all start to sound a little samey by the end. Lipstate is
careful to avoid that trap—while each of the eight tracks on No Dreams is unmistakably her work; they
are all unique enough where one never thinks, “Oh great, here comes more guitar
droning.”
You can think that, but change the inflection—“Oh great!
Here comes more guitar droning!” At least that’s why I think, anyway.
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