SISTER GROTTO - BLINDSIDE
heavy mess 2016, edition of 100
"A respite for sleepy eyes, heavy hearts, and tired minds." - HEAVY MESS
"Blindside is 'a love song for an absent lover.' Blindside is about internalizing new feelings of loss. ARE YOU BLIND? / YOU ALREADY KNOW / ARE YOU BLIND? / I'M NOT AT HOME" - SISTER GROTTO's bandcamp
enlightened musicmaker MADELINE JOHNSTON, co-founder of TINYAMP RECORDS, member of seemingly now-defunct dream pop duo YEAR OF THE DRAGONFLY, and solo artist previously under the moniker MARIPOSA creating singer-songwriter loner folk and now as SISTER GROTTO whose bandcamp aptly self describes as "heaven metal / soft gaze" hitting her stride with her jaw dropping collaboration with BRAEYDEN JAE from last september still knockin my socks off and now two new SG tapes in the past three months
hot on the heels of her self released moody dream pop full length debut YOU DON'T HAVE TO BE A HOUSE TO BE HAUNTED, JAE's very own "discrete cassette label" HEAVY MESS delivers BLINDSIDE and it's a doozy, splitting the difference between HAUNTED and aforementioned JAE collab BORN TO LOSE / BORN TO LEAVE (REC #106) with two longform movements - side one- a melancholic keyboard motif, patiently employed subdued f/x, airy atmospherics, gorgeous ethereal vocals, and little nudges here and there introducing gentle variations on the singular theme - side two throws side one in a blender, a rich sonic puree that subtly shifts and shimmers, gauzy texture upon gauzy texture, soft yet immense ambient drone that kinda makes me think of JON GIBSON's "cycles" - if there's more of side two's style on SG's horizon, oh man, look out -- BLINDSIDE is brilliant, with a certain je ne sais quoi that sets it apart from next-level hypnagogic drone-weavers like EKIN FIL and SECRET PYRAMID - so simple yet so devastatingly effective, one part dream pop, other part just dream
highly recommended
LIMITED EDITION CASSETTES
