Tuesday, October 8, 2024

Gothtober- Lila Ehjä : "Clivota"

 




This French artist is making something intriguing with the depressive drone of her sound. It captures a mood I enjoy, though even when my ears are tickled by things that sound good to them I have to stop and ask what is the emphasis here capturing a sound or writing a song, With the right producer and tools at hand anyone can capture a sound, not everyone can write a song, The album opens with the sound winning me over, but it is not until the bass line of "the book" kicks in that I begin to hear her willingness to write a song. There is a hypnotic element to what she does that made the songs begin to float by me so I had to stop and give the first few a second listen to really lock into what is going on here. 

The darkness this delves into is a darkwave most fans of goth should find appeal in. The title track breezed by a few times before I paid attention to it. The pace picks up a little for "ghost love" and when the guitar sounds kick in the dynamic shifts, allowing her rather deadpan vocals to find a place to fit.  She is not far removed from Boy Harsher when it comes to the Sonic zip code she occupies. There is a heavier darker mood to "Rust" which works really well. Not geared towards the goth night dance floor but that is ok. The fact that organic instruments are being played rather than just button-pushing carries a great deal of weight with me. At seven minutes this is the album's longest song, so it does kind of drone on a bit. 

It would have made more sense for her to have shot a video for the catchier "Trigger" rather than 'Worship' which hits you with the frantic strum of her guitar creating abrasive white noise, but that is where we are at with things. There is a more opaque haze cast over "Noyades' which works well if she wants to take things in a more shoe-gaze direction. That is where she is headed with it which makes sense, I like the autotuned effect she uses in parts. I will give this album a 9, think I have been pretty clear what works for me with it, but if you want a darkwave project not just trying to go for booty shaking but doing something with sonic depth this is it. 



pst501

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