{"id":16246,"date":"2019-03-15T05:30:40","date_gmt":"2019-03-15T09:30:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=16246"},"modified":"2019-03-07T09:25:00","modified_gmt":"2019-03-07T14:25:00","slug":"album-review-lavender-blue-dusk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2019\/03\/15\/album-review-lavender-blue-dusk\/","title":{"rendered":"Album Review: Lavender Blue — Dusk"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"A sense of humor is not typically at the top of a list of notable characteristic of a singer-songwriter. By definition\u2014and with some exceptions, of course\u2014singer-songwriters tend to be a serious, introspective lot, rarely given over to playful subject matter in their work. But Asheville-based artist Lavender Blue (the stage name for Kayla Zuskin) has it both ways: the songs on Dusk<\/i>, her first full-length release, are emotionally rich and evocative, but Zuskin\u2019s subtle wit flashes now and then as well.<\/p>\n

The main case in point is the album\u2019s lead-off track, \u201cGive Me Metal or Give Me Death.\u201d To a listener unfamiliar with Lavender Blue\u2019s work, that title might suggest a jagged, abrasive tune full of aggression and (perhaps) a bit of humor. But the song itself has none of those qualities. It\u2019s a poetic rumination on pain, uncertainty and love. Zuskin displays a sophisticated command of language; the couplet \u201cThe poison runs deep \/ singing antidotes in our sleep\u201d makes clever use of the confusion some have between the words antidote<\/i> and anecdote<\/i>; the thing is, in this song\u2019s context, either works. The song\u2019s spare and lilting arrangement is a showcase for Zuskin\u2019s breathy vocal delivery, and Mike Johnson\u2019s subtle pedal steel work adds just the right texture.<\/p>\n

\u201cJellyfish\u201d features Zuskin\u2019s shimmering yet understated guitar as its central instrument, though Jack Victor\u2019s drums are mixed way out front. As the melody tumbles into its brief chorus, a strong shoegaze character reveals itself; were it not for the angular major-7th<\/sup> chords that surface through the track, \u201cJellyfish\u201d might be thought of as a distant cousin to the Sundays\u2019 \u201cHere\u2019s Where the Story Ends.\u201d The arrangement threatens to explode into a rock feel, but Zuskin and her musical associates pull back from that edge just in time; the tension created in the process makes the song a successful one.<\/p>\n

The moody \u201cPennies\u201d exhibits some of the same qualities, but leaves out the threat of rocking out. Instead, Zuskin effortlessly explores the upper register of her vocal range, adding subtle splashes of chiming guitar.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust Kids\u201d is built atop a synthesizer foundation played by producer Johnson. The song\u2019s character straddles synthpop and downtempo; in places it\u2019s so placid that it evokes thoughts of Brian Eno\u2019s impressionistic Another Green World<\/i> tracks. That understated demeanor is carried through on the wordless \u201cBlueBlood RedMoon,\u201d though here it\u2019s gently picked guitar and washes of sound effects that conjure the mood.<\/p>\n

\u201cNegev\u201d marks the appearance of unamplified acoustic guitar that has a character not unlike a harp or dulcimer. Melodically less accessible than most of the other tracks on Dusk<\/i>, \u201cNegev\u201d has a free-form feel; the song sounds more like an introduction than anything else, but in the end it stands on its own, not actually introducing anything else.<\/p>\n

A vaguely countrified guitar figure carries \u201cTricksters\u201d forward. Corey Parlamento\u2019s bass is assured yet quiet; Sister Ivy\u2019s Rachel Waterhouse provides some washes of electric organ and an alluring solo, one of few solos on the record. The album closes with the dreamy \u201cDead Horse Point.\u201d Like each of the eight tracks on Dusk<\/i>, it has a specific characteristic that sets it apart; in this case it\u2019s the song’s use of overdubbed vocal lines that overlap and intertwine. And at a shade over five minutes this, the album\u2019s longest track provides an opportunity for Zuskin to spin out a simple yet appealing electric guitar solo.<\/p>\n

At right around 30 minutes, Dusk<\/i> certainly isn\u2019t an epic-length recording. But the eight songs on Lavender Blue\u2019s debut album provide a good overview of the varied yet cohesive musical perspective of Kayla Zuskin.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A sense of humor is not typically at the top of a list of notable characteristic of a singer-songwriter. By definition\u2014and with some exceptions, of course\u2014singer-songwriters tend to be a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16247,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49,51,65],"tags":[237,3745],"class_list":["post-16246","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-new-release","category-pop","category-review","tag-asheville","tag-lavender-blue","cat-49-id","cat-51-id","cat-65-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16246","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16246"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16246\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16248,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16246\/revisions\/16248"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16247"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16246"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16246"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16246"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}