I CARE IF YOU LISTEN: Editor's Picks: 2021 New Music Albums
I CARE IF YOU LISTEN: Editor's Picks: 2021 New Music Albums
BY Amanda Cook
“The album pulsates with nostalgia and the ghostly echoes of now abandoned online spaces from the early days of the internet. Over the course of the album’s nine tracks, Tran creates something that feels entirely fresh and of a bygone era at the same time.” - on Phong Tran’s The Computer Room
“Declamatory unison statements diverge into new textures, and the tessitura gradually unfurls while remaining grounded in the major second interval established at the outset. Improvised solos weave in and out of the dialogue, and voices sing out with a combination of raw energy and soaring reverence. Transformative communality and radical joy drive this immersive minimalist experience.” - on Julius Eastman & Wild Up’s Femenine
“Every note, every syllable, is held with profound weight and its own precious significance. The middle of the album expands in vocal range, language, and tonal and rhythmic complexity only to tenderly fold back in on itself again, like the perfect arc of a full inhale and exhale.” - on Arooj Aftab’s Vulture Prince