Album Review

Lisa Cuthbert – “Hextapes” [Album Review]

The engaging, multi-instrumental dark drone of Hextapes seeks to propel the musical honesty and beauty of Lisa Cuthbert to wider acclaim.

Published

7 years ago

08/25/2017

Mathieu Sankeralli

Article Views: 636

With admiration from the likes of Andrew Eldritch, Duncan Patterson, and even Tom G Warrior, Lisa Cuthbert, the Irish-born Berlin-based singer/composer, has been a very quiet secret for some, due to her relatively short but impressive works and collaborations. However, the very deep and spiritual compositions that she’s crafted, are about to emerge for all with Hextapes.

Iron Bonehead Records has stepped up to deliver her swirling, dark missives this time and, honestly, this album is sublime. The heavy sounds are ghostly and as captivating as a song of sirens; tracks like “Eye” and “The Host Wants a Parasite” both caress and penetrate you with equal finesse. This is one of those albums that require you sit and let nothing else capture your focus as you commence listening to “Killing Fields”. The dynamic range of the album on the whole never seeks to overwhelm or engulf, but rather more to immerse.

Everything here is so intimate: the recording process, the locale where songs were written, the introspection and moods involved in its creation. I found myself easily slipping away to an ethereal place within myself. Accordingly, listening to Hextapes in a remote or sparse place could almost be a personal ritual for some who love their music transformational or meditative; the mantra-like “Effigy” being almost the album’s core and focus.

The moody and powerful “Under the Stars”.

By the end of the full throaty lament and keys of “Pillars”, one feels comfortably spent, and the closer “Hands Clean” provides a brilliant resolution to the entire experience, with its mood steeped in folk Irish heritage. There is a tremendous respite and comfort for those drone dwellers of the dark, as well as more arty mainstream alternative types; anyone really looking for truly meaningful music that enriches. Personally, another addition to the Best-of-2017 list, without question.