Review Summary: Hits and deeper cuts reimagined under a more orchestral arrangement, which serves to enhance the whimsy where it works, but causes harmonic dissonance where it does not.
Spellling is the shapeshifter of influences Tia Cabral, the Sacred Bones Records‘ golden child. She has received all of the label’s promotional heavy artillery during her tenure and for a damn good reason. The effortlessly luxurious sound she crafts with even the barest of instrumentals, combined with the infectious melodic and harmonic bliss she brings to the writing is instantly striking and infectious. Many have quickly pointed to ostensible influence of Bjork and Kate Bush, most notably due to Spelllling’s distinct theatrics in vocals, as well as the smothering whimsy in her song-writing, especially on her most grandiose project to date,
The Turning Wheel. However, from her previous work and certainly from her interviews, the influence seems to have been laying a little elsewhere all along. Specifically the enchantress Minnie Riperton, synth art-rockers like Talk Talk, and a plethora of intersection of gospel and RnB music is what stands at the core of Spellllling’s formative artistic pull. It seems now that after the overwhelming reception her previous record has garnered, her newest effort comes as a form of disspellllling the claims of her influence: a striking veluptuous orchestral remix album that distincts every tiniest bit of Cabral’s musical ambition, as well as attempts to assert her unique voice once and for all.
All would have been well, had the whole tracklist been written and arranged specifically for the purposes of a lush orchestra or a disposition not as synth-laden as the original tracks were. The dramatics of this new arrangement somehow still sound much more bare and tiptoeing than when her palette had been in part synthesised and electronic. The lushness of construction is compromised by the express attempt to overdo it even further with organic work, yet one that thus ends up even more artificial. In the most unflattering of combinations the new sound compromises the harmonic structure altogether, which is of essential damage to a work of the likes of Spelllllling. Songs like „Cherry“ or „Haunted Water“ come off as if out-of-tempo or out-of-tune instruments from rehearsals or early demos somehow made it to the final cut. This especially works to bury all beauty of their original counterparts under the grandeur.
At its most simplistic, the songs sound much like one would expect of a run-of-the-mill rework. It is not that the album is somehow a misstep in conception, but rather there often lacks an apparent reason for the newness. Certainly, Spellllllling doing an all-acoustic, or all-orchestral, or all-instrumental edition of her songs was a predictable feat, as her previous album was just a step away from being fit for a national orchestra. However, in this predictability a sense of purpose is lost. Songs like the opening „Walk Up to Your House“ or „Hard to Please“ do not necessarily convince of the need to hear them over or alongside with their predecessors. The crisper drum sound, background strings, and burgeoning piano all seem like overarrangements, instead of carefully thought-out choices. To a similar extent, „Phantom Farewell“ becomes a soulful ballad that unfortunatelly drags a bit tepidly, but at least ends on a juicy guitar lick, replacing the original’s industrial experiments. On the other hand, all these new tricks do serve to strengthen Spelllllllling’s ties to early-days RnB and soul music. It certainly is much easier to see Minnie Riperton as a prime influence, when these tunes rock out genteel balladry, all set to strings, piano, and backing choir.
Now that the negativity is all out of the way, let’s indulge in the positives. The four final tracks that come from
The Turning Wheel have been by design predisposed for orchestral greatness. The whole album they are from is a testament of making the most symphonic music without an actual orchestra. Stands to reason that these cuts would be most suited for a full instrumental coating. „Boys to School“ adds a surprising amount of boisterousness and juvenile pique that was more timid on the original cut. Meanwhile „Always“ and „Revolution“ are certainly more than just reworks for curiosity’s sake, rather standing on their own two feet, just as enjoyable and pretty. „Sweet Talk“ then adds a level of subtle triumph to the album that works perfectly as a closing statement. From the front half of the album, „Under the Sun“ is a cut, where the rhythmic and harmonic dissonance actually works well, as it turns a track originally quite danceable and nostalgic nearly into an avant-garde nocturnal experiment. The song is now a little abridged, making its presence more immediate and direct, while the melancholy strings and piano create an atmosphere almost haunting to a point. This is a great example of where the new ensemble turns the uplifting pop extravaganza of the core song all the more blissful, inventive. The same can be said to a slightly lesser extent about „They Start the Dance“, where the jazzy percussion and Spellllllllling’s echoic vocals work in almost erotic intimacy with each other, until the grand sensual explosion in the end.
But in the end, the album feels not so much as a statement by Spelllllllllling, but an outing of necessity. Here is a record that seems more a cluster of alternative takes that often carry little weight compared to their original counterparts, despite striving for new stylistic distinction. Even in cases, where the deviation from the predecessor is quite heavy (see again „Phantom Farewell“), the songs get lost in the tracklist. In the meantime the highpoints of the album, while indeed gorgeous and intricate, mostly come from tracks previously already composed with orchestral or overwhelming production in mind. This leaves a peculiar dissonant thought in mind of most of the tracks being a mere secondary replicas, serving as affectations to the curious listener and nearings for closer genre distinctions, yet adding little new in the barrage of newness it attempts. Still, at least it did not break the spelllllllllll and we now have hope that such a crisp, clean production and set up may eventually make its way on a Spelllllllllllling album proper.
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