She Spread Sorrow - — Orchic Seeds

Originally released as part of 2019's On Corrosion 10 CS anthology, She Spread Sorrow's Orchid Seeds sees its re-release again through The Helen Scarsdale Agency on digital and LP. Fans of 2021's Huntress will revel in hearing Alice Kundalini's quickly out of print earlier work, and a strong, female-forward introduction into the themes and sounds that would blossom on her later album. At only five songs, Orchid Seeds is short and sweet, and a nice look back at She Spread Sorrow's lesser-heard material.

Slowly moving and purposefully building like a short story, Orchid Seeds works its way into the listener's mind without flash or theatrics, just with sheer willpower and persistence. In what may be a precursor to Huntress' thematic imagery, Orchid Seeds focuses on a female protagonist, but with a markedly different tonal palette than its follow up album. Leaning more toward minimal construction, the softer approach gives more focus to Kundalini's vocals/lyrics and pushes the album's story aspect further than something crushing and harsh. In addition, Orchid Seeds feels somewhere between a film score and an audiobook interpretation (like something from Cadabra), again leading the listener into an unexpected direction. As that is not the main purpose of Kundalini's vocals, she can eschew over the top dramatics or inflections in place of a hushed, monotone delivery. This matches the minimalist construction of the music behind it very well, and helps to keep everything stitched well together.

However, all wrapped up, Orchid Seeds does have a very beige feel to it, and each of the elements that should bring the album more life tend to fall a little flat. Kundalini's vocals do indeed match the tonality and vibe of the album, but due to this plainness of sound, they tend to feel more soporific than engaging. Despite this, Orchid Seeds is a worthy listen, and it's abbreviated run time will allow for many spins when something calmer is required. To find out more