INDIRA VALEY - NO ME TENGAS MIEDO
antiquated future 2018, edition of 50
"latest from Portland's Indira Valey. an EP of textural surprises and casual wizardry. Four soundscape pieces that exist in the realm of artists like Julianna Barwick, Juana Molina, and Grouper. // Released on Antiquated Future Records and Spirit House. A limited edition run of home-dubbed, hand-assembled cassettes." - ANTIQUATED FUTURE
from the unassuming label that released one of my all time favorite cassettes ever in TUCKER THEODORE's outsider weirdo bedroom folk diamond in the rough TO MAKE THE SUN HURT and seminal new weird american drone classic in SISTER GROTTO & BRAEYDEN JAE's BORN TO LOSE / BORN TO LEAVE, comes another straight up masterpiece, clocking in at just under half an hour, everyone knows that it's much (much) better to leave me wanting more than to wear out your welcome, so it's no surprise that this has been in heavy rotation since it popped up, even heavier after the tape showed up
AF ain't wrong, this is riyl BARWICK and some JUANA MOLINA by way of GROUPER (a catch-all for this sort of thing, i know), but it's not -just- that sort of thing - NO ME TENGAS MIEDO is full stride excellence, a snapshot of perfection in the surreal realm of measured ambient dream pop, the sort that BEACH HOUSE left behind years ago, here picked up and dusted off then filtered through IAN WILLIAM CRAIG's post pop construct, where NMTM's opening track stands as a bold female counterpoint, and then the rest is a melting pot of ENO's APOLLO and earliest / best JULIAN LYNCH and COVER THE WINDOWS era GROUPER and late MICROPHONES / early MOUNT EERIE, while earnestly appealing to folks who might prefer a vintage styling a la COCTEAU TWINS or even a big-indie flavor a la GRIZZLY BEAR -- "wide open" in particular grabs me, like ILYAS AHMED heard the opening bassline to LOU JOHNSON's "the beat" and promptly decided he should get stoned and sparsely noodle around a snippet sample of that for a good while -- a shoo-in for my "NADIA REID"-award that goes to my "as close as i get to somethin that could be construed as pop" favorite
