Alexander Tucker — Dorwytch
Tucker's high, confident tenor has been chorused and doubled into liquid smoothness, giving the mix a lush, larger than life feeling. His delivery is even, consistent, and not overly emotive, largely a vehicle for the melody he is singing, which is the central focus of every piece except for the three post-rockish ambient instrumentals, "Half Vast", "Dark Rift / Black Road" and "Jamie", shimmering seas of gentle feedback that echo and swell in a similar way to bands like Sigur Ros.
Songs like "God's Creature" are haunting, piercing straight through my music critic jadedness with intense chord shifts to dark, minor and melancholic places. "Mildew Stars" describes post bad trip paranoia and delusional unease with sickly dissonance, and is probably my favorite track, a song I could honestly listen to on loop for an hour or more. It's truly remarkable the way this man can repeat a melody for an entire song and load it with so many subtle harmonizations and odd quirks that it's even more fascinating near the track's end than it was in the beginning.
If anything holds back the immediate romanticism of this album, it's the lyrics, which can upset the simple, flowing beauty of the compositions with stilted word choice. 'Psychedelic' phrases like "atomized the furniture below" (from "Atomized") or the repeated chorus, "Organic matter growing instead of limbs" (from "Matter") are mismatched with these nakedly emotional arrangements. At times Tucker's persona as a vocalist seems detached from the heartwrenching yearning of his complex chord progressions, like he doesn't know how to put the feeling evoked by the melody into words.
Luckily, Tucker's stubborn search for that never-before-sung phrase results in some compelling stuff as well, like the chorus of "Red String": "Do what you do / towering figures / looming, featureless face / suggests you meet him / in here". His music is certainly cerebral, and therefore reveals new nuances with each listen. The songs are multifaceted, not easy to generalize into blanket categories like "happy" or "sad".
The production can be heard to reverberate organically as if echoing through a sparse forest, though these songs could work for a variety of contexts. The layers of crystalline acoustic guitars have a tasteful perfection, disappearing when not needed, making way for neon washes of electronic effects that likely come from guitar pedals. Fans of Animal Collective or the 'freak folk' genre understand this enchanted pagan space.
The bed of other instrumentation surrounding Tucker in all songs can at times be uninspiring. The muted rhythm section plays nothing but muffled, unsyncopated 4/4 grooves that drag the songs closer to the cliche, and quickly becomes unnoticable. The dry cello plays quite a few too many loosely tuned quarter notes in sloppy overdubs, and it feels like it's only here as an obligatory typical 'folk' instrument.
In summation, Alexander Tucker's "Dorwytch" has provided me with pleasant listening experiences, food for thought and some melodies I'll never forget. The pieces of his music could function better together, but his spirit shines through and the result is often magickal. I believe him capable of better, as this album has a few forgettable or awkward moments, but I'll always think quite fondly of this record.