Pitchfork Forkcast: New Music: Sian Alice Group: "The Dusk Line" [MP3/Stream]

New Music: Sian Alice Group: "The Dusk Line" [MP3/Stream]

Sian Alice Group's recent LP, 59.59, was so eclectic that Pitchfork's review read like a Last.fm tag-cloud: Our writer had to name-check psychedelic rock, pastoral folk, piano-lounge balladry, analog-synthtronica, free-jazz, Afro-tech, avant-classical, and points outlying to describe the British group's expansive, entrancing sound. Four tracks from the 59.59 sessions, which seem to have been too simple for the album, have landed on The Dusk Line EP. The title track sets the EP's minimal tone, fishing the piano-lounge balladry out of the jumble: A univocal piano line and Sian Alice Ahern's filmy vocals are its sole elements. While "The Dusk Line" forsakes some of the LP's understated power with its straightforward arrangement, it retains the hypnotic quality. The two-finger piano phrases move up and down their register but scarcely evolve, while Ahern's voice alternately soars and dips, moving forward in a way that feels like sitting still.

MP3:> Sian Alice Group: "The Dusk Line"
[from The Dusk Line; due 06/17/08 from The Social Registry]