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only way to get it. It’s an innovative release strategy that demonstrates how serious the man is about his music and connecting with his audience, and I don’t think I’ve seen a model quite like it. Opening track “Firecrackers at While certainly not a yawning Dawn” sets the tone with an eerie philosophical pit, it’s still heady vibe, drawing you in with Tedesco’s enough, saved perhaps by that rewarm, haunted, Paul Simon-esque curring and well-received invitation vocals. The warmth vanishes about to live, at least a little. There is a midway through the song, though, Dan Tedesco lot of that sentiment throughout as it bursts into a proggy guitar Morning Bells the whirl, both stated and implied riff and a jazzy saxophone workin countless synth layers. Guided DANTEDESCO.COM out from Boston musician Evan by a lost Local Natives guitar line, Laflamme. The hook of the song “Every Blessing” even comes t can be a dicey affair when an is a lyric drenched in reassurance with digital church bells ringing. artist who operates in traditional and doubt: “It’s OK for the things Combined with interpolations from songcraft decides to experiment. you love to let you down once in a some artificial music box, the whole They risk alienating some of their while—isn’t it?” thing could have easily become lost audience, while the new audience “VSFLS” (Violence, Sex, Fear, into its own expanse. But quiet, segment they attract may not apLanguage, Substances) is a moody somber notes on a well-tuned piano preciate the existing back catalog rant about the state of the world that refocus the tune, and the album for of their more “standard” fare. builds into the EP’s most driving that matter. Ambulance wails in the Dan Tedesco’s excellent new EP, moments, but still remains intimate. back/foreground bring the listener Morning Bells, manages to navigate You can hear the keys on the saxoeven closer to our shared current this territory and come out with phone clicking, as if it were right up and former moment: It cannot be all something rare: a three-song collecnext to your ear, telling you a secret, kaleidoscope daydreams anymore, tion of well-crafted (not to mention as the world is engulfed in flames even if we try really, really hard. pointed) songs that also explores around you. Fittingly, “Paradise Lost” marks some interesting sonic territory. It is The title track is the prettiest of the symphonic fall of the record, a ambitious, but doesn’t neglect what the bunch, but even it has a ghost, bookmark of chaos and distortion came before. in the form of amp buzz that keeps that isn’t resolved until the record’s There is no traditional percussion things from getting too pretty. The final track. “Endless” returns to in these songs, no drummer on a kit. tune is a showcase for Tedesco’s the former satellite pop which The rhythm section takes the form fingerpicking style on guitar, which THAT’S THE PLEASURE HERE: WANDERING ELECTRONIC anchors it and gives SOUNDSCAPES IN HEEDLESS PURSUIT OF STRAIGHT it motion. SEROTONIN FUEL, NEVER RELYING ON LYRICS OR VOCAL Lyrically and stylistically, Morning DELIVERANCE TO SPREAD ITS MESSAGE OF INNOCENT Bells is another EFFERVESCENCE. piece of pandemic music (Tedesco calls it out in the first song). There have found such joy in chasing meloof hand claps, shakers and general been a lot of those in Iowa music dies through hard drives. It could banging on things (but in ways that the last few years—artists haven’t be horns anchoring the melody make the songs more interesting). been given much of a choice—but on the track, but it turns out to be And the EP won’t be released in a Tedesco might have best captured yet another synth layer. That’s the traditional manner, either—Tedesco the overall flavor of our collective pleasure here: wandering electronic is dropping one song at a time dread. You can feel the frustrations soundscapes in heedless pursuit of from February through April on his and anxieties of a working musician straight serotonin fuel, never relyMusic Channel, a site that works struggling throughout this trio of ing on lyrics or vocal deliverance like a more interactive Patreon, songs. But, as the writer Malcolm to spread its message of innocent where he can supply unique conGladwell says, “A lot of what is effervescence. My advice? Get it tent to his fans and offer a way to most beautiful about the world ariswhile you can. Winter can’t last interact with him directly. This EP es from struggle.” forever, can it? won’t be released on any streaming —Avery Gregurich services; the Music Channel is the —Bryon Dudley We’re not soft, we look soft We just play piano and love hopscotch (Live a little)
Zap Tura Adaptasia WARMGOSPEL.BANDCAMP.COM
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ith every surge of the pandemic, a soundtrack emerges. Cyclical soundtracks, in fact. First, warm, optimistic fear foists celebrity covers of “Imagine” onto us all. Then, months of winter mark dour observations as people spend time with themselves looking at the brash remains that they all share. Rinse, repeat, release until it’s hard for anyone to feel that optimism is worth placing a bet on anymore. A question then: On the turning into winter of calendar year three, would there ever again be energetic daydream music, to mark the start of what seems now to be an endemic disease? Answer: Zap Tura’s Adaptasia. Meticulously produced by Phil Young and released by Des Moines’ Warm Gospel Tapes label, Zap Tura’s second full-length album Adaptasia is a feast of digital exuberance, something I didn’t know could be offered earnestly anymore. The first song, “River,” explodes from out of a sped-up sitcom theme that can still be found if you twist the rabbit ears just right into a truly joyous opening tune. Ritual melodic forays are introduced, most of which will appear throughout the album’s ensuing eight anodic tracks. For proof, credits on “Echospace” include “AM radio & cell phone oscillation,” further establishing Zap Tura’s insistence on including all imagined digital instruments into the mix. Bird song bridges the dead space between tracks, setting the green screen to allow the requisite synth-whirl to accompany this chorus on “Protector”:
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