We have already spent a sizeable number of words praising Mary Knoblock, yet the Portland-based voyager is not yet done. It’s a relief: the music landscape greatly benefits from her boundary-pushing, avant-garde perspective, heavily intertwined with popular culture and constantly redefining the norms. ‘Spiritus’ is Knoblock’s latest effort, a cathartic, spiritual album with a great deal of hypnotising potential and haunting atmospheres. There are at least a couple of different layers we can peel off it.
First, there’s the record’s face value. A limitless stream of daring, bold and quirky electronica, found sounds and mangled recordings, all blessed by Mary’s evocative, elegant and magnificent vocals. Wrapped in otherworldly effects and spacious harmonies, Knoblock’s tone is almost prophetic, guiding listeners towards artistic truth – or at least what’s considered so by the American songstress.
The second layer is composed of Mary Knoblock’s unique imagery and lyricism, perfectly complementing such an aural masterpiece. Things get a bit fuzzy here; after all, such a nuanced work is obviously incredibly personal and codified in intimate experiences. Yet, there’s a global thread that we can perhaps hope to follow, as the holistic creative explains: “It’s a sonic walk through historical moments in my life, forgotten letters that came to life, and haunting dreams that I recounted to process the complex breadth of emotion we as humans work through in love, life, and tragedy.”
Packing fourteen slices of unknown artistic expiration, ‘Spiritus’ feels both cinematic and ethereal, both gloomy and hopeful. We suspect we do not yet possess the tools to decode it, which might take time and many hours of listening. Maybe that was always part of Knoblock’s plan: pushing us to connect closely with our inner consciousness.
Recommended! Discover ‘Spiritus’ on Spotify:
