by John Glab (@glabglabglab_)
Some of the best albums out there are scuffed as a factor of their lo-fi home production. Lacking the systematic mastering process to make it sound perfect, its earnestness is less tampered. It’s left in its unrefined natural form, with the impurities in its structure complimenting the piece as a whole. They solidify from the cathartic emotional flow of least resistance. This is what characterizes the new Guitar album Casting Spells on Turtlehead.
Saia Kuli, the Portland based artist behind the project, crafted the songs using one guitar and overlaying the parts in Ableton. This process produced tones resembling an acoustic strum, or jangle from a clean guitar, peaking the input from the gain being turned all the way up. This grating minimalism gives the album a switching feeling of being flustered and heartfelt. It follows a trend from other Portland and Pacific Northwest self-produced solo acts. Likened to the blown out, hasteful distorted rippers of Tony Molina, these sounds characterize Casting Spells on Turtlehead. The result is a collection of odd, jagged tracks that warp at a glance from one idea to the next, and back again. The blurb on the album’s Bandcamp describes it as “negative, angular rock,” encapsulating its jagged structure, and androgynous tone.
The album opener “My City My Rules” leads in with the wheeze from a harmonica and calmly plucked arpeggios. It gives an image of a lazy reeded shoreline amid sunset. Kuli murmurs over this before a cymbal break whips the song forward in a punk flurry. Isolated lows and synth phrases lace themselves into the speeding section. The song abruptly halts and leads into “Baying of Dogs”. This track has the distant atmosphere that much of the Ex Pilots discography has. It garners this feeling of rolling along a wide-open horizon, with a far-off voice beckoning away.
“Create Mode” begins with a brash, discordant riff that inserts itself into the poppy structure. The track stutters and chops off whenever it feels like it. The name of the song itself is somewhat of an on the nose reference to the free flow that Casting Spells on Turtlehead follows. Darker elements show through on “Kiss Me You Idiot” with slow, heavy, grinding fuzz that pummels the song. A dragging bass line makes the track even more bruising. Kuli’s vocals and lyrics make it seem agitated and distraught, giving into the notion that the song could come apart at the seams at any moment.
“Twin Orbits” is characterized by a shuffling rhythm and bright instrumentation. The track features Kuli’s partner Jonny singing in a sentimental and joyous manner. Summery guitar licks fill in the spaces absent of vocals. Overall, it’s a very peppy, tender, and happy moment on the record. The previous, self-titled Guitar album featured many off-beat media samples interspersed throughout its listing. “One Unit of Chaos” is the only song with one of these. Here, amid applause, a game show host reads out the prize for winning as, “Full legal authority to burn down my house, and kill my family,” before freaking out. The tone of this absurd situation contrasts with the grounded, downtrodden energy experienced on the rest of the song. Muddled folk like guitar groans resonate over bending shrouds of chorus.
Variety between and within all these different songs gets at the main essence of Casting Spells at Turtlehead. The special quality of this release is how diverse the different parts are. The constantly shifting and jumping nature of the album creates this strange and enthralling experience that conjures up disjointed and hazy, but familiar scenes. Generated by Kuli’s raw ambiguous intent, these feel like they’re perceivable through a thin film, morphing their experiences into our own.
Above all though, it gives the album an immense level of dynamism. At any moment, what’s happening in a song can flip into something completely different. Throwing them around from one texture to the next, it captivates and holds the listener’s attention. It’s mesmerizing how an album this brief can dash to so many unique places. Each play through holds its own sense of discoverability, never exhausting itself.