Crystal Myslajek – Cove
The second quality Moon Glyph release in as many weeks, Cove is Crystal Myslajek’s third tape using her own name after a number of outings as part of Minneapolis experimental drone institutions IE and Brute Heart. As achingly ambient as both those bands, but given breath-taking simplicity and clarity by Myslajek’s deft use of the grand piano, Cove is a truly spell-binding composition that’s as meditatively neo-classical as it is New Age.
Ghostly choral parts drift in and out like those of Liz Harris, Myslajek’s minimal arrangements accompanied by a slow swoop of low bass tones and frosty, elemental backing like the pin-drop cinematics of Julianna Barwick. A couple of intimate instrumentals aside, her whispery mew adds another level of mystery to the swooning majesty too, the downright gorgeous “Trespassers”, for example, the ethereal six-song suite’s most fully formed song thanks to it and a deceptively powerful undertow.
Heavy on multi-tracked choral parts that shimmer like a cascade of Gregorian chant, “Silver Moon” is lightest on the piano in turn, swelling instead with soft-focus synths during the cassette’s closing moments into a sumptuously melancholy lament. Nose to tail, Cove is an enriching listen that warms the heart and cerebral synapses simultaneously.
Best track: “Trespassers”
~Cove is out now via Moon Glyph.~