Unknown Mobile, Bitter Fictions, Pick a Piper, and Everly Lux
Unknown Mobile - Field Work
Unknown Mobile is the ambient/experimental recording project of Whitehorse, Yukon’s Levi Bruce. His latest album under this moniker is a global project in which Bruce made field recordings in various countries around the world. It’s especially fun to see his listings of where the recordings were taken, such as a rooftop in Berlin, a vineyard in Portugal, the Yukon River, and even a Hotdog Stand in Sweden. Together, these locales help craft a gorgeous kaleidoscope of looped sounds and calming minimalist instrumentation to craft an incredible album of meditative moments that will centre you in nature.
Bitter Fictions - Amethyst & Emerald
I must have been in a meditative mood when I selected the albums I wanted to write about this week. I was immediately drawn to Amethyst & Emerald, the long awaited new album from Calgary’s Devin Friesen. Under the Bitter Fictions name, Friesen creates solo guitar music with rich ambient textures of droned out feedback over which he gently plays his guitar. Amethyst & Emerald immediately came across as sorrowful and it turns out that its creation was part of a long grieving period for Friesen. It’s a beautiful album and we hope its creation helped Friesen move forward, perhaps it will do the same for somebody else out there.
Pick a Piper - Dandelion
The electronic duo of Brad Weber and Sophia Alexandra return with their 4th studio album as Pick a Piper. This is another record full of tunes I don’t normally go for but was drawn towards this week. This duo know how to craft electronica that will get in your brain for days. It might be the layers upon layers of electronic sounds that have my interest piqued or perhaps its the gorgeous vocals that are helping bridge the gap into this style of music for me. Whatever it is, I plan to keep spinning this album because I’ve been getting more and more out of it with each listen.
Everly Lux - Talk Tales
Talk Tales from Montreal’s Everly Lux is a sprawling album of rich compositions with harp, cello, and electronics being used to amp up the textures and deliver a sound bigger than just the typical guitar, bass, and piano. These lovely layers of beautiful instrumentation are the canvass in which Everly Lux paints their artwork through strong poetic lyricism. The lyrics are sung with an idiosyncratic delivery that makes it hard not to compare to Joanna Newsom. So what’s not to like, dive into Talk Tales from Everly Lux right now.
