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Not just outside the box, but denying the existence of boxes.
Covering music from the fringes since 1993.

Reviews

Paulina Fae — The Secret Language of Trees
(Projekt no#, 2020, CD / DL)

Paulina Fae — Earthlight
(Projekt no#, 2021, DL)

Paulina Fae — Glow
(Projekt no#, 2022, DL)

by Peter Thelen, Published 2022-08-23

The Secret Language of Trees Cover artEarthlight Cover artGlow Cover art

Paulina Fae (a.k.a. Paulina Cassidy) has kept busy during these pandemic years, producing three engaging recordings from December 2020 (The Secret Language of Trees) to its 2021 follow-up Earthlight, right up to her latest 2022 release Glow. All three show slightly different sides of her compositional craft, as well as her artwork that graces the covers of each of these, which turns out to be a perfect match for the music within. With a style that is ostensibly avant-garde synth-based informed by a mysterious and dreamy presence, often combined with some acoustic instrumentation, her vision is sometimes overtly cosmic in nature, at other times seeming to reference elements of shoegaze pop, but always engaging. A listener can easily get lost inside these adventurous dreams, where just about anything can happen along unexpected paths. The vocals often tend to be whispered and reliant on studio effects and reverb; the backing sounds are even more mysterious, a mix of acoustic and electronic sources, yet drenched in beautiful effects that create a complete immersive soundworld. The Secret Language of Trees was conceived as accompaniment for her 96 page limited edition graphic novella / CD combination which can be found on her website, or simply as downloadable mp3 audio. The eleven tracks herein are profoundly explorative and will bring the listener back for many repeat listens, each time revealing new details that were seemingly previously hidden. To the listener, Earthlight may seem more song-oriented and less avant-garde at first, though its vision is equally explorative and unusual as songcraft goes, often moving through melodies and arrangements that are somewhat disorienting, and the immersive title track blends traces of acoustic instrumentation, whispery layered voices, and electronics in cryptic ways that may surprise and confound. The ten other cuts here are equally mystical and cryptic, drawing new connections between unusual sounds and veiled acoustics. Taking her dreamy songcraft several steps further, Glow shimmers and radiates mystical incandescence, perhaps more reliant on percussive sounds than previous efforts, but the album’s ten tracks project a similar mood that will engulf the listener in an introspective world ready made for dreams. While throughout these three albums, there are elements of ambient and minimalist ideals, this is clearly not music that will put a listener to sleep, there's simply too much going on, although these pieces do tend to be relaxing to a degree. Recommended for adventurous listeners.

Filed under: New releases, 2020 releases, 2021 releases, 2022 releases

Related artist(s): Polly Fae / Paulina Cassidy

More info
http://projektrecords.bandcamp.com/album/earthlight
http://projektrecords.bandcamp.com/album/glow
http://projektrecords.bandcamp.com/album/the-secret-language-of-trees

 

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