Fall 2020: Chasing Empty Dreams

1 Tarwater: Devon Saturday
2 The Notwist: Ship
3 Rupert Lally: Broken Tones
4 Hidden Rivers: Rosunn
5 Noveller: Rune
6 Tangents: Bygone
7 Sarah Davachi: Play the Ghost
8 Portishead: Hunter
9 Devics: Connected by a String
10 Anna von Hausswolf: The Mysterious Vanishing of Electra
11 Alder & Ash: Feverling
12 Dead Can Dance: Circumradiant Dawn
13 Gavin Miller: Don’t Look at the Sun
14 Cocteau Twins: Otterley
15 Saariselka: Into the Wind

1 I have been revisiting the Tarwater back catalog lately and while 1998’s Silur remains my favorite, I really like the short instrumental from the 2014 record Adrift, especially the American Analogue Set-sounding languor of this track. 2 The Notwist’s new single will instantly remind you of Stereolab, but as my comp collaborator Bryan pointed out: it has a Mouse-on-Mars quality to it as well. 3 The opening notes of “Broken Tones” track remind me of recent Depeche Mode records, but all sorts of other sounds drift through the mix and thereby enable this instrumental to pull you in several possible emotional directions, which isn’t as likely to occur when confronted with a lyrical hook from a great vocalist like Dave Gahan (as enjoyable as that experience almost always is). Thanks to Bryan for sharing this one with me. 4 This was another find courtesy of youtube’s all-knowing algorithm that either discerned that I needed more downtempo, Luc-Gordon-esque instrumentals in my life or simply decided that it was high time everyone logging onto the site “discovered” Hidden Rivers. “Rosunn” is my favorite piece from a four-song EP entitled Plainsight Lakes. 5 The opening minute of “Rune” reminds me of Lorn for some reason before giving way to a bygone grandiosity that Dead Can Dance crafted so effectively on records like Within the Realm of Dying Sun. I originally had this track appearing much later in the mix (after DCD’s “Circumradiant Dawn”), but Bryan, always thinking in short three- to four-song radio sets, wisely suggested pairing it with Rupert Lally and Hidden Rivers. 6 The opening minute of “Bygone,” particularly the searching notes of cello-playing genius Peter Hollo (who used an octave pedal to make the instrument sound like double bass), reminds me a lot of Francis Harris, whose track “Me to Drift” was featured on the Winter 2018 comp entitled: Amnesiac Vacations. “Bygone” is the final track on the band’s latest release: Timeslips and, as Pitchfork columnist Grayson Curran once remarked while reviewing a previous album: Tangents “craft songs that feel like little worlds”—and that is certainly evident on this track as well. 7 Vocals on a Sarah Davachi track? That was the first surprise when I heard “Play the Ghost” for the first time. The second surprise was how good the vocals sound here. I hope Davachi utilizes the voice-as-another-instrument approach on another track soon. 8 I’ve been meaning to use this murky, unsettling Portishead track ever since the band’s 2008 record Third was released. Fortunately, 12 years later, the appropriate sonic sequence finally presented itself. 9 My friend Paul shared Devics with me in 2003, just after The Stars at St. Andrea was released. The track that initially touched us both was the lovely duet “In Your Room,” but this track, with vocalist Sara Lov channeling Billie Holiday, was the one that captivated me the most when I pulled the CD off my shelf 17 years later. I also noticed that Dustin O'Halloran was a part of this band, which in retrospect should not be surprising, given the melancholic nature of the music. 10 The satisfying Swans-esque dirge of the instruments and the ability of shapeshifting singer Anna von Hausswolf to be both bewitchingly beautiful and biting on the same track create a theatrical—almost operatic desperation—to this song without ever sounding overblown. 11 Alder & Ash remind me a lot of the cellists Helen Money and Zoe Keating, using cellos like a black metal band might menace you with an onslaught of guitars. 12 “Circumradiant Dawn,” from the 1985 record Spleen and Ideal, is another track I have been patiently waiting to fit into a compilation somewhere. Somehow, the tone of it connects—almost like an outro—to the Alder & Ash track and yet signals a sonic change to the more relaxed mood of the final three tracks. 13 This Gavin Miller track was also a vital contribution from Bryan and, like most of Miller’s work, turns just enough in the span of eight minutes to keep you emotionally engaged. I particularly like the Labradford-esque tone of the guitars that recall Julee Cruise and thus would have fit nicely on the soundtrack for Twin Peaks. 14 Thanks to a youtube video entitled, The Dreampop Enigma of the Cocteau Twins and “Lorelei” that contained all sorts of hidden trivia about the Scottish trio, I revisited the band’s 1984 record Treasure and marveled at the resplendent romanticism of it all over again. I also contend that “Otterley,” the penultimate track on that album, is one of the most arresting ambient tracks they have ever created. 15 Here are Bryan’s comments about the final track: “The Temporary Residence label has been a consistent source of interesting music for almost 25 years, and they still occasionally surprise me with albums that go beyond their usual sound. Saariselka’s Americana-hued ambient brings the compilation to a close with the hopeful lyrics, “Into the wind we fly, the ground our sky.”