Canary, a duo whose gossamer ballads recall slowcore stalwarts like Low, released a four-track album called Here in early October.
Here contains a blend of acoustic and electronic instrumentation, the two elements tied together by Helena P. Nichols’s vocals, which range from new-agey to baroque (albeit a super downtempo offshoot of baroque) in nature. Opener “Fools” floats along atop slowly burbling synths and delicate bells; Nichols starts by singing, “Silence is falling/Choices are made,” suggesting the beginning of a long and difficult conversation punctuated by pregnant pauses and weary sighs. Later, Nichols muses, “Fools rush in where angels fear to tread,” an affecting, succinct summation of the flawed human experience, one that builds on the song’s crestfallen first lines. In the track’s back half, layers of weeping strings, pensive flute, and brushed cymbals pile up, causing the music to bloom outward from its spare beginnings. The gentle beauty of the sound keeps things from straying into downerdom, instead evoking a sense of blissful resignation.
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