It has been said that writing about music is like dancing about architecture. If you’re on the fence about music journalism, I’d suggest you to cast your eyes elsewhere while I write about music about architecture that you can dance too.
Blame Glasser. Her shift to New York City was the inspiration for her new album’s exploratory tension between exterior and interiors, its wide-open spaces juxtaposed with claustrophobic grid-like patterns. This analytical viewpoint is given an off-kilter spin, which you can pick up from the titles and track-listing alone; the meticulous Window tryptic fails to follow the chronological order of its parts, while New Year is the only song title that doesn’t reflect form or space in some way. Within these formal trappings, the lyrics uncover dark secrets, dreamlike states and glassy-eyed moments of romance.
The music itself isn’t as strange as you might expect, with Glasser and co-producer Van Rivers (Fever Ray, Blonde Redhead) concocting a more polished, pop sound than the more fragmented debut effort, Ring. If anything, Interiors is more hemmed-in than spaced-out. Its subtle, shifting music gives off a sense of unease without disorienting, while Glasser’s accessible, intimate vocal consistently provides the entry point into a lush world of comfort, but never dullness.
BY CHRIS GIRDLER
Best Track: Shape
If You Like These, You’ll Like This: Vespertine BJORK, Fever Ray FEVER RAY
In A Word: Grand-design
