Lia Kohl’s new album Normal Sounds is born out of the sound of the every-day such as fridge drones, grocery store beeps, and car horns, combining them with ambient swirls and strings. Far from being jarring, the musical and mundane sit well together especially in the hands of Kohl who weaves field recordings into a thoughtful collage of musical patterns and sympathetic arrangements.
‘Tennis Court Light, Snow’ uses the buzz of a light to add shimmer and the crunch of footsteps as percussion and adds swirls of drawn strings which mimic the changing patterns of falling snow. ‘Car Alarm, Turn Signal’ morphs an alarm and car indicators into a marshmallowy metronome with clouds of drawn strings and pizzicato whereas ‘Plane’ scuffs up cello and soft keyboards against the drone from 20,000 feet and air steward announcements. The non-sequitur of ‘Ice Cream Truck, Tornado Siren’ is a leftfield meditation on the nursery rhyme clang of the truck and the siren’s portent of an impending storm and even ends with a simplified take on ‘The Happy Wanderer’.
‘Airport Fridge, Self-Checkout’ is like percussive popcorn tumbling into the chaos of a busy airport, ‘Car Horn’ feels like orchestral jazz beamed from space into a traffic jam and the final track, ‘Ignition, Sneakers’, has an echoed pulse like ghostly footsteps walking through fiery crackles and more lush glissando strings.
There is a naïve charm to the presentation which belies the amount of work that will have gone into making something conceptual that doesn’t descend into cacophony. The classical elements made me think of the amazing work that Mizu is doing with treated cello and it seems that strings are particularly suited to more experimental work given that you can get a myriad of different moods out of instruments with only four strings. This can seem alien at first listen, but as you let it wash over you if feels like the day-to-day world is composing your own personal soundtrack.
Released on the Moon Glyph label
Lia Kohl socials: Website | Bandcamp | Instagram
Review by Paul F Cook
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