Album Review: Sea Oleena- Shallow

When I used to have slightly more time on my hands, back when I had my old desk job, to fill the silent void in the office, and because I liked spending money, I used to browse through Bandcamp by genre, often selecting “Shoegaze” and then seeing what I could find.

I think I’ve probably talked about this a few times in other posts on here throughout the course of the (almost) two years that I’ve been doing this, but a lot of people who say that they are “Shoegaze” are not. Like, I don’t care if you have a copy of Loveless or whatever—that doesn’t mean the music you make is any more gazey.

Anyway, I’m digressing here. The point is that it is through this endless clickhole that is Bandcamp that I came across the enigmatic artist Sea Oleena, and her cassette release comprised of two albums, which then lead me to Bridgetown Records and my eventual internet friendship with the Bridgetown gawd himself Kevin Greenspon.

Sea Oleena is primarily the work of one person—Charlotte Loseth. She’s active on Twitter and Tumblr, but has a Facebook fan page that has been dormant for years. And with little to no fanfare, has released what is presumably her third full length—Shallow, via Lefse Records. To say that Shallow is a statement of beauty is vastly underselling what a gorgeous, hypnotic, jaw dropping experience it is. In a year that has been made up of some pretty boring and forgettable releases, Loseth has created something in Shallow that holds your attention from the very beginning, and haunts you long after you have finished listening.

Without selling Loseth’s earlier efforts short—both her self-titled 2010 LP, and the 2011 follow up, Sleeplessness, had an ambient dreaminess to it (think Grouper, but less ominous and claustrophobic sounding) but the time in between releases has really allowed her to narrow the focus of her songwriting. It’s an incredibly immediate and urgent album; and I want to say that it’s direct, but that doesn’t seem right, given the amount of cavernous reverb at certain points.

Shallow also shows a shift musically—it’s more mature sounding, and exponentially more somber. There was a definite playful, whimsical tone to Loseth’s previous two Sea Oleena efforts. That kind of carefree feeling is long gone, and has been replaced with a stark, delicate beauty.

This is one of those kinds of records where you can’t really pick out one song as being a standout—Loseth is not writing hit singles here, although in an alternate dimension, the slithering opening track, “If I’m,” could be something you’d hear on the radio. The lush string work and fragile piano playing on both the title track and “Vinton, LA” are obviously worth noting, as are the expansive running time on both songs. With an album like Shallow, it works best as a whole, letting it completely envelop you. In 2014 it seems a little cliché to refer to something as a “headphone record,” but this is best suited to listening in an intimate setting.  It’s a mesmerizing, dizzying record, one of the few released this year that is 100% worthy of your time and patience as it slowly and deliberately reveals its secrets.

Shallow is out now on Lefse.