Darning Woman – Jagjaguar
Brooklynn-based Anastasia Coope haunts with her debut, Darning Woman, an album full of intense moments and serene ethereal joy. The album is a mix of fragmented folk, minimalist avant-garde chamber pop, and 60s experimental psych-rock. Layered vocals and lo-fi experimental sparkles adorn the tracks. Featuring choir-like sequences that echo Cocteau Twins, with nostalgic mod pop channeling Trish Keenan of Broadcast.
Track 4, the title track, “Darning Woman,” sounds like it was recorded in an empty school cafeteria – the echoes and slight guitar strums make it an intimate and charming scene. “Return to Room,” layers Coope’s eloquent vocal gymnastics over a basic piano base, with flourishes of a sax and harp thrown in to expand on the grandeur. Track 7, “Sorghum,” could have been a late 60s folk standard, sung in a round. “Sounds of a Giddy Woman,” track 5, is just that. It is anxious sounding joy from the spiritual world.
I find this album to be lush and emotive. The cloudlike sounds tamponing against the ghostly and outwardly traversals into the subconscious. It pushes boundaries of genres in a way that is raw and exciting. One note of trivia, Anastasia appears on the new Moon Diagrams album, which I reviewed a couple of weeks ago.
Track listing –
1: He is On His Way Home, We Don’t Live Together
2: Women’s Role in War
3: What Doesn’t Work What Does
4: Darning Woman
5: Sounds of a Giddy Woman
6: Woke Up and No Feet
7: Sorghum
8: Newbin Time
9: Return to Room
More than half of the songs come in at under 2 minutes. My favorites: 4**, 1**, 9**, 7**, and 5**. You cannot go wrong with any songs on this album – play them all in one sitting!
– (h)earwitness