Next time you inevitably find yourself talking with your favorite northern indie collective, don’t be surprised if the name Julie Doiron unlocks stories of creative sparks and introspective resonance. Perhaps best known for her vocal performances in Mount Eerie’s 

 project and her early work as a founding member of Eric’s Trip, Julie Doiron has played a hand in some of the most influential indie-folk projects to date. While Doiron’s vocal delivery may be her most recognizable trait, to reduce Doiron’s artistic ability down to her velvety timbre would be a grave injustice to the songwriting seen throughout her solo career.


 comes after a neardecade-long break from new solo music by Doiron. Now 49, she introduces her album with “You Gave Me the Key,” an upbeat track describing her reflections of the past and recent turning of a new leaf. The album’s closer “Back to the Water” stands in stark contrast to the opener, describing Doiron’s desire to return to the “water” and rediscover her roots. The conflicting messages presented throughout the album convey a vulnerable, unknowing state of being that is rarely seen in projects written 30+ years into one’s career.


The album’s intimacy is complemented by Doiron’s choice of simple and oft-repetitive lyrics. As the title implies, Doiron frequently refers to the listener as “you,” granting her words enough power to reveal a nearly uncomfortable level of vulnerability, akin to that of reading a friend’s diary or unsent letters. In the title track “Thought of You,” Doiron reaches her self-endangering peak, apologizing and expressing shame for her past actions. The past remains an ever-looming motif throughout the album, as tracks like “Ran” depict Doiron exclaiming her newfound freedom after finally escaping the hold of an unsustainable connection.


While Doiron’s vocal performances mark a triumph of her career, the upbeat instrumentals and clean production remove some of the album’s potential for emotional impact. “I didn’t know just how much that I had lost / I didn’t realize just what I had done,” Doiron cries atop an instrumental not so dissimilar from the royalty-free country ballad one might expect to find in the background of a Cracker Barrel commercial. These instrumentals can often feel uninspired and pale in comparison to some of the grittier, more expressive tones found in Doiron’s work with Eric’s Trip or Julie & the Wrong Guys. This stale performance is not without its exceptions, however. In her title track “Thought of You,” choruses stand out as instrumentals transform into dreamy pools of reverb and harmony that accompany Doiron’s voice in such a way that guarantees its listener chills.


 is evidence that Doiron has learned a lot in her last 30 years of music-making. Her lyrics and vocal performances consistently hit new emotional highs not yet heard before in her career. Doiron’s risk-free accompaniments, however, often combat the expressive direction many of these tracks so desperately desire.


On "I Thought of You", Julie Doiron’s triumphant return is stunted by lackluster instrumentals

Conjured from the remnants of atmospheric dream pop and minimalistic post-punk, the slowcore scene of the 90’s stood in stark contrast to the more aggressive sounds popularized by grunge. A little band called Duster entered this scene relatively late, releasing their debut album, 

 integrated the traditional gloom of slowcore with the warmth and intimacy of lo-fi production and used these two components to create an album that focused on the lonely, yet calm qualities of outer space. This album is seen today as an indie classic but went virtually undetected by the listeners of yesteryear. Duster disbanded following the release of their second and final album, 

, not to be heard from again for nearly 20 years.

Today, Duster stands as the face of slowcore, possessing a short, yet treasured discography, and a small, yet dedicated fanbase. Their popularity has grown exponentially in recent years thanks to the internet and artists such as Snail Mail citing them as inspiration. In early 2019, Duster reemerged and responded to this sudden spike in popularity through the release of the 

 box set and the announcement of an upcoming tour. These announcements were complemented by the release of “Interstellar Tunnel,” a repetitive single that disappointed many fans due to its incomplete and rather irritating sound. It seemed as though Duster may have lost their touch during their two decades of silence.

It was later announced that a new album titled 

 Two decades and one disappointing single later, it would be reasonable to assume that the new self-titled album wouldn’t match up to Duster’s acclaimed past works, but it does. The self-titled work has combined Duster’s original sound with elements of electronic and harsh noise music, creating an album that’s delightfully reminiscent of their former musical ventures, all the while taking risks that give the listener a new sound to enjoy.

“Copernicus Crater” and “I’m Lost” open the new album and introduce the listener to Duster’s new sound. “Copernicus Crater” features cleaner production than “Stratosphere” without losing the band’s signature warmth and unsettles the listener with a repetitive guitar riff. “I’m Lost” is similarly repetitive, and presents the listener with a noisier Duster not yet heard before. These two tracks serve as admissible openers but feel as though they only exist to prepare the listener for the album’s third track, “Chocolate and Mint.”

Chocolate and Mint”’s combination of clean drums, deep basses, fuzzy guitars and synth marks it as the culmination of Duster’s returning sound. This track broods just right and satisfies an itch in one’s brain that they didn’t know existed before listening. “Chocolate and Mint” is an incredible track that stands as the beginning to the real 

 of the album. “Summer War” feels as though it was recorded 20 years ago, perfectly replicating the melancholic coziness of Duster’s 1997 EP 

. “Lomo” takes on a softer sound, ending with a synth-driven instrumental reminiscent of Duster’s 20-year-old track “Capsule Losing Contact.” This leads into “Damaged,” a fun, short instrumental driven by electronic beats and unintelligible noise.

Letting Go” creates a cleaner, tremolo-driven tone reminiscent of “Contemporary Movement”’s sounds of urban solitude. “Go Back” sees Duster at their most experimental, featuring quiet, monotonous whispers being dominated by a foreground of unintelligible harsh noise. This track doesn’t seem to hit the way it’s intended and serves as the only “skippable” low of the album. This low doesn’t last long, however, as “Go Back” is succeeded by “Hoya Paranoia,” a track most closely reminiscent of the warmth one feels when listening to “Stratosphere.” “Hoya Paranoia” paves way for the concluding three tracks of the album.

Ghoulish” sees Duster slowly descending into a messy soundscape of guitar effects and monotony. This leads into “Ghost World,” an enjoyable, yet forgettable track that sounds pretty similar to “I’m Lost” in its presence of noise and extremely repetitive structure. Just as “I’m Lost” introduces the body of the album, “Ghost World” successfully concludes it and prepares the listener for the album’s outro, “The Thirteen.” “The Thirteen” summarizes the many sounds of 

, consisting of electronic drums, noisy rhythm guitar, and a tremolo-driven lead. This track ends this melancholic journey on a relatively positive note, with a melody that feels like a warm farewell.

, but it has rightfully earned its place in Duster’s discography. This album, much like 

, may take multiple listens to fully appreciate. Tracks that may have seemed monotonous during an initial listen can easily evolve into a nuanced soundscape of complex personality and authenticity that only Duster is capable of. Regardless, this self-titled album places Duster into an exclusive club of artists who have been able to return after decades of silence only to create yet 

may not be for everyone, as the repetitive song structure and often-brooding timbre could be enough to put a listener to sleep, but this album is near perfect in its pacing and effortless ability to reinvent the definitive Duster sound without straying too far from home.

Twenty years later, Duster creates another instant classic, “Duster”

Swans have been at the forefront of experimental music for a 

 time, largely due to the ability of Michael Gira, founder and lone continuous member, to effortlessly evolve the band’s sound. What began as a revolutionary-yet-incoherent wall of monotonous sludge on Swans’ 1983 debut 

 soon developed into melodious, folk-inspired gothic rock with their 1991 release 

. This initial evolution would see its end with a turn to atmospheric post-rock in 1996’s 

. After the release of the acclaimed live album, 

, Swans went silent for over ten years. Gira maintained his presence in the music scene under the moniker “Angels of Light” during this time, but his sound in this project was focused primarily on melancholic folk.

The year is 2010. It has been nearly 15 years since the release of Swans’ 

, an album now considered by many to be one of the greatest albums of all time. Michael Gira is 56 years old, and it’s pretty safe to say that the experimental trip that was once Swans is effectively defunct. Suddenly, and seemingly out of nowhere, Gira returns to the Swans name, and in the next six years, Swans release a trio of two-hour-long atmospheric experiences: 

. It’s been 30 years since the founding of Swans, and Gira’s done it once, or in this case thrice

Now it’s 2019. Gira is 65 years old and has been teasing a new album that claims to be the beginning of yet 

incarnation of the band. Swans’ fifteenth album, 

is proof that Gira isn’t planning on going anywhere. 

might be the most accessible Swans album to date, and serves as a culmination of many of Gira’s sounds of yesteryear. With a runtime of 93 minutes, the album preserves the atmospheric post-rock monotony heard in the acclaimed “trilogy” it succeeds and combines it with the gothic-folk sound of 

’s retrogradation of style may come off as antithetical to Swans’ reputation for evolution, but it is this very return to older ideas that distinguishes the album as the beginning of a new era for the band. Gira has dabbled in a wide variety of genres throughout his 40-year-long musical career and uses this album as an opportunity to show us what he has learned.

Songs such as “The Hanging Man” and “Some New Things” feature a repetitive and rhythmically-dominated sound reminiscent of tracks like “Screen Shot” on 

 Meanwhile, songs such as “It’s Coming It’s Real” help paint an ethereal, lush wall of sound not yet heard before by Gira. This rich, ominous beauty can also be seen in “The Nub,” a song featuring lead vocals by Baby Dee and complemented by instrumentation from experimental jazz group, The Necks.

The album reaches its peak at its end, with its four last songs featuring more easily-digestible song lengths and traditional song structures. Together, these songs are able to quickly summarize the album itself, as well as the various sounds of Swans’ late-career. This begins with the aforementioned “It’s Coming It’s Real,” and continues as “Some New Things,” followed by “What is This?,” a particularly upbeat song relative to the entirety of Swans catalog, featuring a clear melody complemented by the jingling of bells and chimes. This positivity is quickly juxtaposed with the ominous echoing ambience that is the concluding track of the album, “My Phantom Limb.”

Song placement is perhaps the most notable decision worthy of criticism. While the second half of the album flows quite nicely, the first half of the album features the deranged 11-minute-long moan-fest “The Hanging Man” sandwiched between the folk-inspired and orchestrally-backed “Annaline” and “Amnesia.” Swans have always had a spotty reputation in terms of properly placing and transitioning their songs. Hell, songs such as “Big Strong Boss” off 

 abruptly cut out instead of bothering to fade or end at all. Regardless, with 

feeling like Swans’ most beautiful album to date, questionable transitions between songs damages an otherwise seamlessly immersive flow.

seems to show Swans at their most mature. It combines new ideas with everything Gira has learned over 40 years of experimentation; the album may feature a more relaxed and less-risky sound than what has been seen in some of Swans’ prior releases, but its relatively-approachable length and beautifully off-putting sound make for an enlightening experience that leaves the listener looking forward to what will come next.

Benjamin Medeiros