Last week, Lisa McGee released her debut album, Forever Falling Toward the Sky, as Vestals. In contrast to her dense drone work in Higuma (with Evan Caminiti) and Portraits (a group ensemble that includes Caminiti and Jon Porras from Barn Owl, Jefre Cantu-Ledesma, Gregg Kowalsky, Maxwell Croy, and many more), the album sees McGee adopting a fractured shoegaze-esque approach, in which her cavernous vocals, processed guitars, and the surrounding ambiance produce a sluggish backdrop to an aesthetic that keeps on trudging forward. “In Waking Dreams,” the album’s closing track, is a good example of this struggle: the core melodies continually promise liftoff, but the thick noise weigh the track down to a hover, ending with angelic harmonies just barely floating above distorted, wavering feedback. Check it out here:
Forever Falling Toward the Sky is out now on Root Strata. Caminiti’s new Dust Editions imprint will release Vestals’ follow-up, due sometime “in the distant future.”
• Vestals: http://vestals.tumblr.com
• Root Strata: http://rootstrata.com
