Flatbasset Radio's Album Of The Week for the week of June 12th-18th, 2016:
Devata Daun - L o o k
01. We Were Carried
02. Fascinate
03. Animal Instincts
04. Willow
05. I've Been Here Before
06. Subconscious Gestures
07. Tell Me Your Visions
08. Skeletons
09. Be A Stranger
10. They Say
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| (Devata Daun via Serene Supreme) |
I was turned on to Devata Daun via Radio K's excellent Track of The Day program. Back in October of last year they featured Daun's (aka Nikki Pfeifer) Off The Record performance of "Animal Instincts" as one of their local tracks of the week. Radio K's TOTD program is usually pretty eclectic, but even after spending a week with the song (and repeatedly watching the "Skeletons" clip below), I still didn't know what to make of her sound.
Fortunately, shortly after her TOTD appearance, the picture slowly came into focus. Daun, Garrison Grouse, & c.Kostra (aka Ryan Olcott) announced that they were forming Pytch Records. Spending time on their Soundcloud pages led me to an array of stellar singles (Daun, Grouse, & Kostra have since had songs on my Flatbasset Radio podcast) and went a long way to galvanizing their sound. Jared Hemming's excellent City Pages write-up helped me wrap my head around what Olcott describes as their "lo-fi" & "pitch-deviant" sounds.
So, all of that background info aside, L o o k brings with it one obvious question: Can the Pytch Records sound stand up over the course of a full-length LP?
The answer, at least in Daun's case, is yes.
Opener "We Were Carried" is an excellent example of Daun's version of the sound. The elastic keyboards drift in & out of the mix like their batteries are dying at the end of each sustained note. Daun's sustained vocals are relatively stoic, belying a sneaky, simple melody that balances off those keyboards. The whole thing is held together by the percussion, which, seemingly immune from the keyboard's teetering sound, proves to be the album's secret weapon.
The studio version of "Animal Instincts" stands as an early album highlight. Over plinking, heart-monitor-esque keys that make it sound as if we're entering the scene mid-chase, Daun declares, "We are savage animals, you are my prey..." in a tone that's equally cold & sensual. The hunt gains pace via added layers of keyboards for the next 90 seconds before Daun sings "we don’t decide when the thirst takes over, lead me to the water along that rolling river..." as the song opens into a kaleidoscopic burst of keyboards. Just as quickly as it opens up, however, it closes and the hunt begins anew.
Lyrically, Daun tackles quite a few subjects on L o o k. Nature, consumerism, longing, confusion, dissolution of friendship, religion, um... skeletons, all of them are filtered from Nikki Pfeifer the songwriter through the prism of Devata Daun. Fortunately, the fact that Pfeifer prefers keyboards to acoustic guitars keeps the subject matter from sounding too self-serious. For example, give a listen to "Subconscious Gestures:"
"These disconnections are making me numb, yesterday we felt a bond so strong..." No doubt, this is a universal sentiment that would pass as little more than cliche in some songwriter's hands. In Daun's hands, however, it's laid right in the middle of a pulsing keyboard beat, and delivered with a matter-of-fact tone that somehow relieves it of both its weight its potential for cliche. In the context of that subjects tackled on L o o k, it comes off as merely another disappointing moment in a modern, digital-centric lifestyle that has only minimal time to spare on such things. It's both relieving & disconcerting, as if perhaps the pendulum of modern emotion has swung too quickly from dwelling to dismissive.
Late album highlight "Be A Stranger" tackles this same subject matter post-disconnection. At 2:22, the song is basically Pytch's version of punk rock. Daun asks, "Why don't you go now? What is there to be afraid of when you are the stranger?" while skittering drum-and-bass percussion forces the issue along so fast that no one has the time to let on that they're hurt. "Don't be afraid to be a stranger..." she sings playfully, one last kiss-off before shutting the door.
Despite the fact that I've spent the last three paragraphs discussing the album's lyrics, make no mistake, L o o k was always going to sink or swim on its grooves, and it definitely swims. Even if the lyrics are ignored completely and Daun's voice is treated as another instrument in the mix, these songs are filled with hooks & flourishes that make it an album that rewards repeated spins. Though L o o k is essentially a collection of singles that initially stood alone, it holds together very well as coherent piece of work and stands as a great introduction to Pytch's world.
Daun will be playing at The Triple Rock June 30th. If you'd like to check out L o o k for yourself, head on over to her Bandcamp page.
For more TCDroogsma be sure to give him a follow on Twitter (@TCDroogsma). Previous episodes of Flatbasset Radio are archived on his Mixcloud page. Stop by Flatbasset Radio's Facebook Page & give it a "Like" if you have the time.
