While perceived wisdom suggests that the opening track of any album needs to grab the listener fairly quickly, that doesn’t mean an artist has to go big, bombastic, or obvious. There is more to creating a good and immediate first sonic impression than merely volume and velocity. Much more…or should that be much less? Something that “Skin on Fire,” the titular opener of Camille Baziadoly’s latest EP, deftly and delicately demonstrates.
Ethereal is an overused word, especially by me, but that is the only one that will do for this shimmering, seductive piece, and it is only the hint of cymbal beats and the use of drums that suggest that this isn’t the product of an earlier, classical world. As it stands, it still feels like a “Pie Jesu” for the modern age.
“Trail,” by contrast, is totally of the here-and-now, though the sonic shift is often subtle. But as the throbbing bass and ticking percussion beat out a groove, as sonics slide and soar behind, I feel we are in the sort of territory that Bat For Lashes would feel at home in, and compliments don’t come higher, not in my world. (Although I perhaps say that far too often, too.)
“Under Water” is texturally lush, understatedly ambient, floating and formless, serene, and unsurprisingly aquatic, as the liquid vocals seem to move gently on trip-hop-driven tides. There is also something slightly sixties-infused about the sound. “Unlikely Places” again marries the choral classical world with the modern and digital, the song set to a throbbing, martial beat, and “Around You,” which rounds off this gorgeous collection, is wonderfully minimal, intimate even, formed mainly of sparse piano lines and a whispered, sensuous vocal.
Camille Baziadoly has done it again. With a track record of making music that is exquisite and, at times, angelic, Skin on Fire is the sound of her raising her own personal benchmarks, benchmarks that were always pretty high to begin with.
