Collectress - Different Geographies [Peeler Records - 2020]Collectress is an all-female quartet that performs a haunting and eerie brand of contemporary classical music, accentuating brooding minor key melodies and generally creating a perfect soundtrack for the mandatory self-isolation many of us find ourselves within at the moment. Different Geographies is their first full length. Each member of the group is a multi-instrumentalist, switching roles repeatedly throughout the album. Traditional instruments like cello, piano and flute are the backbone of the sound on this record, but there are a few modern timbres as well, such as electric keyboard work from a Rhodes and a Korg MS10. This helps it feel like more than a throwback, and establish individual identity.
The compositions are thoroughly excellent and melodically fluent. The theory-based chord work provides a sense of solid grounding and organization throughout. The sense i get is one of pained, conscious awareness, of acceptance and awareness of the ugly beauty of this world. It's certainly better suited to rainy weather, foggy marshes and cool temperatures, but I was still able to greatly enjoy it on this warm, sunny afternoon.
As I listen to this, I get the sense of so many personal comings and goings, of moments lingered in public spaces. They have truly encompassed the totality of their lives within the emotions of this music, possibly the greatest compliment one can give musicians. These tone poems would make perfect soundtrack music, particularly for an existential, lower energy indie film or even a vampire flick, which would perfectly match the haunted feeling.
The tone shifts from initially ominous with opener "Words (Saturn)" to almost playfully tricksteresque with "Mauswerk", with a macabre circus flavor in the bouncy piano rhythm. Later in the record, we get several satisfying deviations from formula, with the interlude "Archive" surprisingly including a moment of electronic glitching at the end, and the following "She Must Shut Her Eyes" is a chorus of circular rhythmic whispers, the only significant instance of vocals on the album.
Collectress' Different Geographies is a wholly successful venture, a collection of brooding reveries with myriad melodic facets and elegant, graceful structure. Throughout its brooding length, there are still fragments of sun and daylight, and by the end I feel as if I have traveled a great distance.   Josh Landry
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