Intimate, chilling and spectral.
Delaney Bailey’s Concave is hauntingly beautiful. Each track indelibly brings new versions of Bailey to the table, going from eerie echoes to subdued and earnest lyrics to heavy vocal distortion with ease.
If “How To,” the alluring opening track, doesn’t immediately pull listeners in, the following song, “Far Away,” does a bang-up job of making them stay for the whole album. It introduces so many interesting musical techniques to the album, with a bouncier beat and a strong guitar paired with heavenly vocals. The track introduces a brighter musical palette without sacrificing the album’s emotional weight. Bailey’s vocals float above the instrumentation, airy and celestial, almost as if they were predestined to do so.
One of the most emotionally striking moments arrives on track eight, “Wake Up.” The song is best understood by its devastating line, “Live alone, split the rent with ghosts, wake up alone.” Its evocative lyrics linger long after the song ends, transporting listeners into the exact situation being described and encapsulating the album’s preoccupation with isolation and emotional vacancy.
As the album progresses, its somber tone deepens. “Nightshade” boasts gleaming misty vocals as Bailey delivers soft-spoken instructions to an unidentified audience. The effect is unsettling and intimate, as though the listener is being given advice underneath a childhood blanket fort. This sense of quiet unease resides deep within much of Concave, giving the album its haunting edge.
The title track, “Concave,” offers a slightly more upbeat tone than its counterparts. Nonetheless, sticking to the album’s style, it remains restrained as it exists within an album defined by whispery vocals and sparse arrangements. That restraint, however, is precisely what makes Concave so effective. Bailey uses minimalism to create an intimate, calming atmosphere that softens the blow of its heavy themes.
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