Liam Singer
Dislocatia
Hidden Shoal Recordings

Dislocatia is Brooklyn-based chamber-pop experimentalist Liam Singer's third album. His first on Hidden Shoal. It is produced by Scott Solter, as were his second album; Our Secret Lies Beneath The Creek (Tell-All), and features Wendy Allen on vocals, both of them from Boxharp, another Hidden Shoal band. And even though the heavy influences from this Californian duo is very audible, it is Liam Singer's chilly and delightful compositions that makes Dislocatia such an astonishing album.

Dislocatia is a cycle of dusky contemporary chamber, that is somewhat lightened with elegant pop-melodic craftsmanship. From the instrumental opener "On Earth a Wandering Stranger Was I Born" to the closure "Stinson Beach", the soundscape is made of prosaic, romantic minimalism, an uneasy melancholy, and charming metallic beauty.

And even if there are almost regular pop-tunes like the sweet "The Brief Encounter", the delicate single "Winter Weeds", and the breathtaking cover of Cat Power's "Cross Bones Style", Liam Singer challenges the borders of pop music with his experimental, or contemporary musical, use of piano and strings. This much aided by Wendy Allen's heavenly backing vocals, that empowers the tunes in a classic direction. Especially on the wistful "Words Make the Master" and playful "From Fast to Slow / Behind this World" that surely is more chamber than pop.

I also have to mention the sorrowful instrumental "Victory Step", which is neither ordinary chamber nor pop, but a pleasant baroque interlude, that consolidates the genre dislocation on this album that probably is best described as just beautiful.

Dislocatia will be released October 5th.

Copyright © 2010 Aslaug O Klausen