Cross Record – Wabi Sabi

BING_109_WabiSabiRating: ★★★★☆

Cross Record consists of Emily Cross and her husband, Dan Duszynski. Put these two absurdly creative individuals out on a ranch in Dripping Springs, TX after living in the buzzing metropolis Chicago for years and what you get is Wabi Sabi; a stirring example of highly contemplative and carefully crafted experimental folk music. The album balances minimalism with explosive bursts of sound for thirty-five minutes that seems to last much longer in its infinite depth.

The Curtains Part is the opening number on the record, and the band slowly eases you into their eclectic folk soundings. A storm of instrumentation wells up around Emily Cross’ central vocals, hollow guitar strumming, orchestral fluttering and cymbal fills encompass this peripheral storm, hinting at whats to come. The band begins to really sink their teeth into you on Two Rings, the instrumentation here playing on the quietness that they established in the first track and building upon this with their layers of both electronic and organic sounds.

Then you get to the gale-force strength trio of tracks that starts with Steady Waves, and Cross Record completely wins you over. While the first two tracks come across as a bit of an awakening for the duo, this middle portion of the album gives you a taste of their utter power and strength once theyve come to that awakening. First off, Steady Waves is an utterly gorgeous song, an example of the precise balance between softness and ferocity that Cross Record do so well on Wabi Sabi. Cross vocals are impossibly tender and lush, contrasted by the growling guitars that buzz in and out of the mix, while winding acoustic guitar simmers underneath. The number is at once serene and unsettling, building its way to a crescendo and then petering out to a quiet ending, akin to wind chimes gently stirred in the breeze.

Next up in the meat of the album is High Rise, which takes Cross vocals to an impossibly translucent level, their whispery quality floating atop the bombastic, exploding drums that give the song its drama and such a drama continues on Something Unseen Touches A Flower To My Forehead, which forsakes the gentleness of the previous two tracks and just hones in on the violence of the folk music.

The rest of the album falls under the quieter side of Cross Records spectrum of sound, though this is by no means boring or too subtle. On the contrary, I found myself constantly enamored with the entrancing simplicity that these two have harnessed into Wabi Sabi. Do yourself a favor and savor this album, as its bound to become one that you revisit over the coming year.

 

Beautiful Smoky Track From Cross Record

10922432_512148512257410_7508773176381109828_nI know it’s only Tuesday, but you’ve just found your song of the week right here. Cross Record, if you didn’t know, are husband and wife duo Emily Cross and Dan Duszynski, and they’ve been making waves around the live scene here in Austin, and will blow you away with this track “Steady Waves,” which mixes loud and soft folk rock elements for the perfect balance of gentle sound with a growing rock bite to it. It’s a sprawling number, with tinkling wind-chime-esque guitar plucking alternating with heavy rock builds, showing the influence of the remote recording location out in Dripping Springs. It’s the kind of track that makes you want to close your eyes and simply let the music push and pull you where it pleases, forgetting everything else is around. It comes off of Wabi-Sabi, the band’s upcoming record that is set to be released January 29th on Ba Da Bing Records, which you will most certainly want to pre-order right here.

 

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