CRYSTAL SHIPSSS – Sanctuary
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Lately Danish lo-fi artist Jacob Faurholt has been releasing music under his own name quite a lot, making us forget possibly about his experimental alter ego Crystal Shipsss, under whose moniker he started releasing stranger sounds ten years ago. It’s been six years since his last new music under that name, discounting the rarities compilation Scorched two years ago. You might say nine new songs performed in just half an hour is not that much, but it’s this short running time that makes the new album Sanctuary a very focused listening experience. The album might be somewhat less experimental than some of Crystal Shipsss’ previous records, and I am thinking here of the deliciously mysterious I Will See No Moon No Sky. Instead Jacob Faurholt is concentrating his energies on crafting melancholic songs that deservedly fit the label sadcore. The opener The Stars Are Aligned is a dark ballad with distorted guitar and deep bass drum programming, over which plaintive falsetto vocals hover. The album ends with a melodica part, and thing continue with Is There Light Ahead?, which starts with a toy piano before the actual song is performed on acoustic guitar, showing a softer side of the artist. To show off all his instruments, Don’t Leave Me Here To Die is played on piano, with the sound of a Super 8 film projector whirring in the background, underlining the retro nostalgia mood that the songs evoke. Rejected starts with a recording of animal sounds at night, before becoming a short and devastating ballad of eight minimalist short verses, ending in more night sounds. The title track Sanctuary is the only moment where we get a rhythmic noise rock song, an unexpected yet nice surprise in the middle of the album. Snow Covered Field, at nearly five minutes the longest track, is a mellow ballad performed on electric guitar, bass and drum machine that is quite moving. The two-minute short The Moon Is Alive comes again with distorted guitar and a certain drone appeal. It’s Haunting Me feels like a piano lullaby coming straight from a horror house, ending with a lush mellotron finale. The Last Song is a bleak ending to a bleak but beautiful album, and I can only hope that the final song’s title is no indication to Crystal Shipsss’ future. I have always followed Jacob Faurholt’s musical body of work with a lot of interest, and Crystal Shipsss’ more experimental nature has been for me like those surprise bags you could buy when I was a kid in the seventies. But unlike those surprise bags, Crystal Shipsss always end up delighting me in the most wonderful way. |
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9 songs |
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29:15 minutes |
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***** **** |
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Genre: lo-fi / sadcore Label: Ur Audio Visual |
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