Lovesliescrushing — Ghost Colored Halo
Primary members Scott Cortez and Melissa Arpin-Duimstra have been honing their craft since the early 90’s, however prior to this album, the duo had not recorded in over a decade. Despite the time apart, the duo recorded the album live in Melissa’s home, no overdubs, and straight to analog. I can’t claim to be a huge aficionado of this genre of music, but I’ve always held a soft spot for My Bloody Valentine, Ride, Lush and other shoegaze/dream pop mainstays. How would Lovesliescrushing, a band I hadn’t had much familiarity with prior to this album, stack up to my slim list of reference points? Swimmingly well!
Whereas the aforementioned bands remain grounded in the rock idiom, Lovesliescrushing leave the corporeal plane to craft sonic iterations of emotion. Through 7 tracks, the duo takes listeners on a voyage through spirit realms and abstract dimensions. They largely achieve these ethereal feats by steady ambient drones and Melissa Arpin-Duimstra’s angelic vocals. I use vocals loosely, because there is an absence of any lyrical content (or any that I can discern). However the vocals act as a powerful instrumental accompaniment to the strings and synths present on this disc. It’s difficult to describe “Ghost Colored Halo” as it works as almost 7 different displays of moods, rather than any traditional album I’ve experienced. Some stand out tracks for me were, “Darklit and Crow,” a meditative number focused on a repetitive throbbing bassline and “Whitening Glos,” which is the one track that creates a near eerie atmosphere. That said the whole album works perfectly in unison.
After an 10 years of not recording together, I must say that Lovesliescrushing has not missed a beat. Admittedly, I was half expecting not to like this. I thought by the description, that this would be too sleepy or slow for my palette. However I was deeply enthralled by the experience. I listened to this album last night for the third time as I drifted off into slumber and I awoke with no recollection of nightmares