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Review:
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Alice Gerlach, who makes music using
computers and records as Alice Does Computer
Music, is back with a new album. This is her
second full length since starting this project
in 2021, and I really liked her last record.
That album took cello and effects and some
samplers and made a kind of stringy
electropop.
But this album is more electronic than cello.
Much more. This album consists of four
ten-minute pieces that ebb and flow through
various movements. But all four tracks flow
together seamlessly when I listen to the promo
MP3s on my phone. So, depending on how you
want to look at, this album is one holistic
piece, 4 pieces, or maybe 10 or so, if you
want to break the movements out into
individual parts. That is kind of fascinating
in itself.
The album starts off with the epicly named The
Candle of Eternity Burns For All. This
begins in a slow, mellow ambience, a formless
haze, and then Alice sings wordlessly while
electronic sounds warble. Suddenly, the music
parts to static and Alice playing the cello
slow, mournful, lo fi, with her voice faint in
the background. As the cello fades into a
loop, electro noises burble up, then suddenly
Alice sings over a funky, old school,
clattering hip hop beat while slippery synth
bass warbles in the background. This part is
fantastic: the beats, her voice, the synth
bass. Love it! The song seems to speed up,
each element becoming more frantic as the
whole thing staggers to a conclusion.
Whew.
The furious beat fades out, and a church bell
chimes. Suddenly we are in a new song, called
Keepsake, but before the church bells
can lead us down a heavy metal path, some
effected cello wanders in, all distorted and
strange. This goes on for a while, then calms
down to mellow synths, an arpeggio (plucked
cello strings?), and Alice singing lightly --
another pretty interlude. It ends as
electronics burble up around her voice.
The third tracks, Sigil is the most
cello heavy track on this record. The cello
and a guitar twirl around each other,
accompanied by nighttime bug noises, and some
clattering. Later, Alice's voice and the cello
alternate, a call and response, the cello
mournfully echoing her voice. Another really
lovely moment.
The final track features Alice and someone
else talking about trains while outside,
presumably at a train yard or near some
tracks. The voices are looped over like
mid-era The Orb over
burbling synths. At the end, real drummer Jon
Starks joins her, as a guitar strums and the
song becomes a pretty little indie rock tune.
In forty minutes, Alice goes through a lot of
stuff. There are moments that are really
beautiful -- that voice/cello call and
response is lovely -- but the whole record is
interesting. Alice Gerlach continues to make
interesting music. Her music is growing, from
cello to something very unique. I am curious
to see where she goes next.
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