Metalepsis

Alexandra Drewchin of Guardian Alien introduced her Eartheater project with Metalepsis, an early 2015 release which addressed themes such as spirituality, nature, and the internet through a fragmentary mixture of electro-acoustic freak-folk. Her triple-octave voice twists around delicate guitar lines, and things frequently get sidetracked into an echo vortex. A certain bird squeak reoccurs, as if it just happened to be flying through the studio during the recording of the album. The gleeful wordplay of "Put a Head in a Head" segues into "Youniverse," which starts out as a glitchy fuzz-pop tune before unexpectedly inserting a portion of a Russian rap freestyle found online. "Sigil Life" builds a cloud of violin strokes over a steadily thumping techno beat, before diving deep into the ether with "Orbit," a ten-minute swirl of corroded chiming tones and bird chirps assembled by Good Willsmith's MrDougDoug. Once this fully transports your mind into a distant zone, the album concludes with the unexpectedly direct "Infinity," a gorgeous and catchy string of thoughts about Kundalini and universal evolution. Drewchin would subsequently take Eartheater in a much more abrasive, confrontational, and political direction, reaching more of an experimental club audience with 2018's IRISIRI, and while that album is certainly a striking work, there's something magical about her debut which made it stand apart. ~ Paul Simpson