Laurel Halo
Dust


4.0
excellent

Review

by Jade USER (17 Reviews)
April 26th, 2018 | 33 replies


Release Date: 2017 | Tracklist

Review Summary: going nowhere vs. going anywhere

There’s something sinister and reductive lurking in the ‘learn the rules before you break them’ mentality. The educational approach conflates young artists’ defining impulses with weaknesses; the only way to survive is through a combination of persistence and stubbornness. Throughout Laurel Halo’s discography, these attributes are displayed in excess. Bone-dry vocal mixes, tangled beats and eerie atmospheres incessantly haunt her recordings. Her songs flit between ambiance and groove but rarely settle into a comfortable emotional space. It’s easy to imagine most of Halo’s records midair, tossed into a rejection pile by record executives with frustrated looks on their faces.

In this same liminal space floats “Dust,” an LP which collects her barest, most uneasy tracks yet. They’re lounge incantations with no guiding crescendo, digital meditations with no clear resolution. Yet “Dust” is both dense and beautiful. Halo’s analog synth tones and abstract, poetic lyrics evolve restlessly over the course of each track. Melodic and rhythmic turns avoid predictability without jarring the listener. Even during its prettiest (the woozy love song of “Do U Ever Happen”) and catchiest (the conflicted, galactic celebration of “Moontalk”) moments, “Dust” leaves the bulk of the navigation up to the listener. Laurel Halo continues to shirk the most traditional demand made of the artist: that they must guide us through the world that they create. Whether or not you’ll love “Dust” is likely dependent on your attraction to Halo’s modular electronic aesthetics. The gift of the album is that, once you’re in, the exploration of that aesthetic is unbounded. The characteristics which make so many pop and dance tracks acceptable, but ultimately unrewarding, are nowhere to found.



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user ratings (70)
3.6
great


Comments:Add a Comment 
Toad
April 26th 2018


2065 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

baffling record. jam if you like synthesizers and being confused

AsleepInTheBack
Staff Reviewer
April 26th 2018


10097 Comments


sounds like an interesting one, may give this a peek

Toad
April 26th 2018


2065 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

hope you dig. i'd highly recommend starting with her earlier work, however, which is way more immediate and accessible

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=brvFJZT_YjM

AsleepInTheBack
Staff Reviewer
April 26th 2018


10097 Comments


I'll try that out then, cheers. I doubt it'll be immediately my kind of thing, but I'm curious

Chortles
April 26th 2018


21494 Comments

Album Rating: 4.5

such a sweet little review. this album is one of the most enduring of last year to me, still put it on pretty regularly

Toad
April 26th 2018


2065 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

Thanks for the kind words chortles!

Friendly disagreement on both counts there Mr. Lowercase

BlushfulHippocrene
Staff Reviewer
April 27th 2018


4052 Comments


"There’s something sinister and reductive lurking in the ‘learn the rules before you break them’ mentality." Been struggling with this lately myself -- I think I agree, and this review is excellent. It's been a while since I listened to this, going to give it another spin. (:

brainmelter
Contributing Reviewer
April 27th 2018


8320 Comments

Album Rating: 4.5

nice read, alb rules

Winesburgohio
Staff Reviewer
April 27th 2018


3951 Comments

Album Rating: 4.5 | Sound Off

what a great review for an album that is extraordinarily difficult to do so. bravo bravo

Toad
April 27th 2018


2065 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

thanks everyone : )

granitenotebook
Staff Reviewer
April 27th 2018


1271 Comments

Album Rating: 4.5

good review, good album

Orb
April 27th 2018


9341 Comments


hyyyype

MotokoKusanagi
April 27th 2018


4290 Comments


great review. i prefer her first two albums but still a nice release

AsleepInTheBack
Staff Reviewer
April 27th 2018


10097 Comments


Listened to her first record, pretty cool stuff. Ethereal and haunting but kind of comforting at the same time. Odd

MotokoKusanagi
April 27th 2018


4290 Comments


check out the title track on "Chance of Rain" too, one of my fav tracks by her

Chortles
April 27th 2018


21494 Comments

Album Rating: 4.5

1.5 lmao

luci
April 27th 2018


12844 Comments


quarantine is the 1.5, somehow I enjoy this but loathe that record

MotokoKusanagi
April 27th 2018


4290 Comments


aw how can you not dig "Thaw"? anthem right there

luci
April 27th 2018


12844 Comments


that one is the epitome of aimless, emotionally-inert art gallery junk to me. aesthetically offensive.

MotokoKusanagi
April 27th 2018


4290 Comments


haha that's fair but i would describe most of her music as "aimless" or having a "suspended in time" vibe but not in a bad way. did you like Chance of Rain? much more of a rhythmic approach to her sound. it gives the listener something to grab on to



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