Flowing on from his contribution to last year’s Out of Season compilation, Concave Reflection returns to Theory Therapy for the label’s debut cassette release. The Chicago artist embraced a process of stacking improvisations and zealous editing – in his words, “layering and layering until I have a cohesive thought” – arriving at intuitive results that echo his work as one-third of Purelink, while showcasing different facets of inspiration.
The Best People Are Like Water is a bifurcated stream, the A-side focuses on rhythm, evoking ‘90s chill-out, blazing downtempo, and NY illbient, while the flip is sparser, serene ambient, wherein the sweeps of Paslaski’s heavily processed cello on tracks like ‘Edging Towards Convergence’ invites comparison to ‘World of Echo’-era Arthur Russell.
Therapy Theory allude to the hypnagogic nature of Paslaski’s music; something particularly evident in of a piece like ‘A Certain Tenderness’, the album’s second track. The music has a hazy, dreamlike logic, working in a delicate suspension of aqueous sounds, microrhythmic chirrups, and deep, glutinous subbass.
The Best People Are Like Water will be released by Theory Therapy on March 4th.
Stamp The Wax · Concave Reflection – A Certain Tenderness (STW Premiere)
