Deep, resonant, ambient riffs and hauntingly-emotional poetry coalesce on this album and give birth to what could be described as a catharsis of sound.
Memories of The UnEarthed as a debut album is a kind of melted self-portrait. Master Musician Ladd Doane and Poet/Vocalist Gypsy, aka Melissa Alexander, might have never met had it not been for Facebook Messenger and a game of chess. The two became acquainted purely by circumstance when Gypsy noticed an in-game suggestion that said Ladd played chess also. She invited him to a game, which she recalls winning with an impish sort of smile. Afterward, introductions were made, during which a voice-clip was passed to Doane via Messenger, thanking him for the match. After hearing her voice, Gypsy says he honored her by asking her to record spoken word vocals to mix with new compositions which he would write. Already established as a solo artist, Ladd had released numerous albums which ranged in genre from Electronic Ambient to Space Music, and suggested the two collaborate on a different kind of album. The offer was accepted, and Memories of the UnEarthed emerged just two short weeks later, again a kind of melted self-portrait of a poet and composer, neither of whom had known each other a month earlier.
"It's like breathing the air of art within a dream state, working with Ladd. If someone had told me a year ago I'd be collaborating and creating with such a genius, I'd have been bewildered. There's this ethereal sort of intuition going on between us, as artists. Somehow he takes my words and connects to all the nuances behind them. They become another instrument in a universe he encapsulates in a track. The first time I heard my voice with his music, I burst into tears. The notes, the effects, the way he mixed it, . . . all harmonized seamlessly with the emotion of the words. He feels what's behind the phrasing without ever being told anything about why I wrote the poem. It's really just magic."
One would never guess that such a highly-intuitive, collaborative, artistic partnership has such a short history, so far. Deep, resonant, ambient riffs and hauntingly-emotional poetry coalesce on this album and give birth to what could be described as a catharsis of sound.
The album begins with "Whispering Tempest," a poem written relatively recently compared to other works featured. Right off the mark, the track hits hits the listener squarely in the chest then quickly subsides into Gypsy's whispered lyric. Resonant tones, deep bass, and a seriously-deliberate tempo flicker over and under a poetically-worded ode to a woman who comes alive in the mixture of percussion and voice, moving in and out with the track's rhythmic core. Around the half-mark, forceful vocal intonations and a drum strike kick the track into another gear which it rides, and then finishes via voice and a loop vocal which simply says, "I dare dream." "Cobblestones and Decay?" It's a dance between self-condemning vocals and music that both empathizes and seemingly tries to rescue the hatred. Uplifting chords, excoriating poetry, and a searing, smooth tempo fence with each other, finishing softly, almost spent, it seems. "Song of the Night Bird," just simply must be experienced. Jaunty rhythms, exhaling sound,and sensual riffs floating in a cauldron of sound that touches into the fabric of the erotic, but leaves the listener without a full picture of what is going on. The track must be felt, in other words, not simply heard. "The Soul's Wintered Torpor" is an amalgamation that masterfully captures longing and ache. Arpeggios dance around the lyric of Gypsy's vocals, weaving back and forth like a woman on a swing, arcing closer, then fading back, playing with the listener. The sound of footsteps slogging through rain adds the perfect melancholy touch, completing this exercise in memory of lost love, gently pushing to the end of the track which tapers into a kind of lonely ether. "Flight of the Desert Bird" finishes the album, and L&G certainly saved the best for last. If you get through this song without feeling something deep, emotionally-wrenching and moving, then re-examine what moves you. It's just, that, haunting and bittersweet. And again, it just has to be felt. All in all, this debut is one that takes the listener through a gauntlet. LAD & Gypsy definitely plan more, and are presently working on album number two, yet to be titled. Musing about the process, Gypsy, a bit lost in the thought finally says, "It's like breathing the air of art within a dream state, working with Ladd. If someone had told me a year ago I'd be working and creating with such a genius, I'd have been bewildered. There's this ethereal sort of intuition going on between us, as artists. Somehow he takes my words and connects to all the nuances behind them. They become another instrument in a universe he encapsulates in a track. The first time I heard my voice with his music, I burst into tears. The notes, the effects, the way he mixed it, . . . all harmonized seamlessly with the emotion of the words. He feels what's behind the phrasing without ever being told anything about why I wrote the poem. It's really just magic." Memories of the UnEarthed was really years in the making if you count the span of time over which music and poetry were written. Still, the creative energy that began over a game of chess stitched together perfectly the music and poetry that brought this artistic duo together. Ultimately, it will be interesting to see how this wine matures.