Neuroplasticity
The second album by Toronto native Cold Specks (Al Spx) is confirmation of the singer’s mighty power. *Neuroplasticity* shows the artist expanding her take on gospel and blues, and it also proves that her own “doom soul” label is more than accurate. Tracks like the bleating, marching “A Broken Memory” and the creeping “A Quiet Chill” do indeed simmer with a damnation-and-brimstone kind of desperation, and tunes like the elegiac “A Season of Doubt”—with its funereal piano and jazzy trumpet—feel like the final steps in a procession we all want to avoid. “Absisto”—the centerpiece track—is a spooky and bewitching number that boils down the essence of blues and soul into an elixir of hissing cymbals, vocal chants, and ‘60s-era droplets of trippy keyboards. Another highlight, “Bodies at Bay,” veers toward uplift, with pretty, propulsive guitars and snares moving at a nice clip when the reins are loosened. Swans’ Michael Gira lends his own brand of beautiful gloom to “Exit Plan” and “A Season of Doubt.”
Following her intriguing 2012 debut I Predict a Graceful Expulsion, Al Spx's second album as Cold Specks is an encouraging next step towards a bolder, striking sound. Swans' Michael Gira contributes to two songs.
Following her intriguing 2012 debut I Predict a Graceful Expulsion, Al Spx's second album as Cold Specks is an encouraging next step towards a bolder, striking sound. Swans' Michael Gira contributes to two songs.
Exceptional soul vocals combine with dextrous alt-rock instrumentation to beautiful effect on the Canadians' second offering.
Exceptional soul vocals combine with dextrous alt-rock instrumentation to beautiful effect on the Canadians' second offering.
Slip on the second album from Cold Specks (aka Canada-born/UK-based singer-songwriter Al Spx), and it’s the voice that hooks you first. As opener A Broken Memory awakens to voodoo organ chords and mournful mardi gras trumpet, smoky vocals implore a darling to ‘dance’ in a tenor that’s tantalisingly difficult to pin down – appropriate for a performer who cloaks herself in not one but two nom de plumes.
Slip on the second album from Cold Specks (aka Canada-born/UK-based singer-songwriter Al Spx), and it’s the voice that hooks you first. As opener A Broken Memory awakens to voodoo organ chords and mournful mardi gras trumpet, smoky vocals implore a darling to ‘dance’ in a tenor that’s tantalisingly difficult to pin down – appropriate for a performer who cloaks herself in not one but two nom de plumes.
What singer/songwriter Al Spx refers to as her "doom soul" is a sound that, had early gospel and blues styles come together in a contemporary setting, colliding freely and comfortably (with little spiritual chafing), might resemble the songs of Neuroplast
What singer/songwriter Al Spx refers to as her "doom soul" is a sound that, had early gospel and blues styles come together in a contemporary setting, colliding freely and comfortably (with little spiritual chafing), might resemble the songs of Neuroplast
Al Spx upgrades the goth-soul sound but still hasn't really got around to writing a song, notes <strong>Kitty Empire</strong>
Al Spx upgrades the goth-soul sound but still hasn't really got around to writing a song, notes <strong>Kitty Empire</strong>
Cold Specks's Al Spx could do with finding some melodies as memorable as the music that's behind them, writes <strong>Tim Jonze</strong>
Cold Specks's Al Spx could do with finding some melodies as memorable as the music that's behind them, writes <strong>Tim Jonze</strong>