D. Inver’s single, the peaks, makes me so glad that recording technology has developed to the point where bedroom is a helpful genre differentiator. If you want more from the sonic countryside shared by Mk.gee, Jeff Tweedy, or Elliot Smith, this track will be for you. The closeness of the recording, the performances on the instruments, the vocals, the lo-fi production aspects, all of it creates a mood that, were this recorded in a traditional studio setup, might not have been as easy to capture.
can I dream, please? / want to let my mind wander outside of me
Man, I never get sick of doubled vocals. For the non-initiated in indie-production tricks: That’s when you sing the vocals of a song and then sing the exact same thing again and keep both. Hearing the same person sing the same melody twice over at the same time is interesting, a bit ghostly, and all the little idiosyncrasies from one performance to another (how long we hold a note, coming in a microsecond too late, the intake of breath) make for a blended sound that highlights the vocal performance in a way that’s sort of impossible to get any other way.
The drum performance really carries this tune; the almost lazy or sleepy attack makes you sway, and keeps us steady as the chords from the guitar and the noisome textures threaten to spin out into space. This is one to queue a few times in a row.
Written by Willow Stonebeck
