The purpose built next generation interstellar Dawn Richard thread

Movement 2 came out this week, consisting of four more tracks.

it's more of the same but that's welcome

Wow, this is really great.

Zahn isn't an artist who's been on my radar before. I'm going to check out some of his earlier work - he did a record with Dave Harrington of Darkside guesting on guitar, which seems like a promising premise for a collab.

did a sort of panel with her last month, what an lovely person she is

“Cerulean” is insane. Loving this so hard.

wowwww

she has a nice feature on a softer garage house number from luuk van dijk called "love you". on beatport and junodownload but afaict nowhere else, maybe spotify idk.

Dang the layers of woodwinds/strings/vocals on "Saffron" -- this is rather majestic stuff, but not at all stuffy or overwrought.

Just went back to 1 and "Vantablack" is stunning

holy shit crimson

This is the post-ECM jazz art-pop record we need right now. Soooo fucking good.

Agree Crimson is incredible.

for some reason this didn't interest me when the first few tracks were released but now i think they're fantastic?

This gets really good in the second movement!

Yeah wow, excellent record. Pop and num-nummy froth-jazz pulling one another towards something v deep and charming

really love the cover art on this

where's it at?

https://dawnrichard.bandcamp.com/album/pigments

heh. the cover photo. none of the press seems to say.

https://i.imgur.com/RXMYy7F.jpg

just a spot of ice golf y'know

Totally magical album

It's currently leading my aotd (day) rankings, although the Dry Cleaning got off to a v promising start that I've had to curtail continuing until tomorrow

I think the most magical thing for me is that I listened to and mildly enjoyed the first movement a few weeks ago, but listening to the whole thing was a revelation - as ufo says above, it just opens out and deepens to an unbelievable degree for such a brief album

Agreed, I stopped listening to the first movement because I was anticipating the album so much. Glad I waited. It's best taken as a whole, and it's wonderful.

Made me check out Sunday Painter by Zahn, which is also exquisite.

took me a few listens to notice how amazing Umber is

is it philistine to wish the vocals were a bit less treated

still this is very good

I feel the same about the vocal treatments. On the other hand, a more naturalistic treatment would further expose some of the lyrical weaknesses.

The vocals are very much part of the wash of sound, as on the Cocteau's Victorialand (in particular).

more background on the dozen things she's doing (a food truck?)
https://thecreativeindependent.com/people/musician-and-multimedia-artist-dawn-richard-on-creating-opportunities-for-yourself-and-others/

new single/twerk anthem "Bubblegum"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWyTq_9GdUA

oh hellllll yeah

I like those apparent "sell-outs" where the aloofness and left-field sounds keep the supposed hit song in its own elusive territory. Like creating a bridge and creating gaps at the same time. It's very credible. Retains her "aquatic" sound.
Only critique is that it's a bit over in an instant.

i am *really* enjoying this.

Dawn was great at the PopCon keynote, BTW; had a chance to chat with her almost by accident beforehand. A personable soul.

Uh...nobody posted this yet?

https://dawnrichard.bandcamp.com/album/the-architect

I'm listening to Goldenheart for the first time in a long time. Still holds up!

What else is worth hearing (and/or avoiding) in her discography? I haven't kept up with any releases since Goldenheart, including the jump to Merge Records.

Goldenheart is the one I would tell people to avoid, so not sure how valuable this will be to you. But I would simply proceed chronologically from there: Blackheart, Redemption, new breed, Second Line. I wouldn't avoid any of them, though Blackheart is probably my favourite

Haha I agree with all of that - Goldenheart is the one that feels most like a slog even though it has some fantastic individual moments. Blackheart is in many ways further out but it's better structured and sequenced. Then everything after that is a much easier listen though I don't think she has ever surprised as much again (at least until Pigments anyway) - this isn't really a criticism, there's very few artists who could maintain the kind of outward-expansion-trajectory which Dawn managed in the four years from early 2011 to early 2015.