Brittany Bosco is a local singer who i have been following for a few years now. She consistently makes interesting music, often crossing genres at will. She is doing some interesting things. Late last year she released the Pacer EP, which is a collaboration with someone called "Dogbite" who is a band member of Washed Out, per her press materials. That is very confusing, because according to the Internet, as well as what i have seen in concert, Washed Out is a one man project. So is this Ernest Greene working on a side project?
Actually, this really sounds like Greene, musically, but with Bosco's rich, expressive voice layered over. It really works. This is mellow ambient music with powerful female vocals. A good combination, and in a sense what the mid-90s trip-hop genre was all about. Looked at that way, this is an update on Lamb. Hmmm.
One further bit of info from the press material, "This concept EP tells the journey of an adventure from Atlanta to California in a 1978 Teal Pacer." Ah, so, these are songs about driving, about a road trip. Okay.
King of the Land starts things off with ambient noodling and her voice, distant echoed and vaguely reminding me of Siouxsie Sioux. This goes on very pleasantly for a few minutes, and then a clear drum hit comes in and drives the song to its conclusion with a steady driving beat while the keyboard noodling gets louder. Wow.
Title track Pacer is more energetic and dense. The beat is an echoed handclap in the distance, and Dogbite layers some dense keyboardishness (very Washed Out here) while Bosco sings through distortion in layers. With all of that, it is a lo-key affair, dense but not busy, steady but not hurried.
Needled Heart is the five minute rocker in the middle of the record. There is a steady drum loop, some reverbing bass drone, a grinding guitar noise, and Bosco singing through fuzz. It moves along nicely, and gets pretty loud and dense.
They mix it up for Kids, which is a light Boards of Canada type of song. It has a steady beat built from a clipped drum machine and some happy little keyboard melodies, over which Bosco sings under echo, not distortion. It's a dreamy, fun tune.
Bosco gives us sultry pop for next tune, Yea-yay a fuzzy loud song with heavy bass beats. Bosco's voice pops and scratched under that thudding beat and a slow keyboard riff. This reminds me a whole lot of early Lamb.
And finally things wrap up with Beauty & The Stone, which is the only truly triphop song here. It has a nice drum beat, simple yet interesting keys, and Bosco singing under echo. Behind it all is a hint of strummed guitar, which really works. But the song just kind of ends. It just stops, seemingly in mid verse. Huh. An odd end to the EP.
I find this to be really engaging music. Bosco is up to interesting things, and her collaboration with Washed Out is very fun. However, the best part is that they are giving downloads of this away. There are two links, below, so take a few minutes and give this a listen yourself.
You won't be disappointed.
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