A record suggested by the almico @[ALFAMA] and featured in the #zot2017 review.
Cobalt Chapel - Cobalt Chapel (KLOVE, 2017)
I spent quite a bit of time with this record at the end of last year (2017) after it was pointed out to me right here on these pages, then for no specific reason, but because I got caught up with a thousand other listens, I set it aside only to pick it up again now, months later, and confirm all the wonderful feelings it had already given me back then. Cobalt Chapel is a collaboration between Jarrod Gosling and vocalist Cecilia Page. The album takes certain Canterbury-derived elements and reinterprets them in a noir and mysterious key, placing them in a more modern context shaped around Cecilia’s voice, which clearly plays a central role (though there are moments of purely instrumental sections and long sessions of organ and synthesizer sounds) and at times serves as the very backbone upon which the individual tracks rest (see "The Lamb," "Crestone Ridge"). The beautiful thing, what might be the true strength, is that it’s hard to give it an exact genre definition. The duo jumps from a certain form of French chanson styled like Serge Gainsbourg to sophisticated synthetic baroque atmospheres, spatial lounge dimensions, and that histrionic psychedelia of the United States of America (clearly inserted within a visionary context, but in a different setting). Had it come out forty years ago, it would have been just another record of psychedelic folk music, perhaps with references to Celtic culture. Instead, today, who knows, perhaps it could be defined more as a kind of post-modern sacred music. It holds up over time, without losing its edge even after a year. That’s no small feat. I believe they released a new single recently, so, well, I imagine they’ll soon put out a new LP; let’s see if they can maintain this ecstatic, ultra-dimensional formula without taking dangerous indie dérives.
Cobalt Chapel - Three Paths Charm
Cobalt Chapel - Cobalt Chapel (KLOVE, 2017)
I spent quite a bit of time with this record at the end of last year (2017) after it was pointed out to me right here on these pages, then for no specific reason, but because I got caught up with a thousand other listens, I set it aside only to pick it up again now, months later, and confirm all the wonderful feelings it had already given me back then. Cobalt Chapel is a collaboration between Jarrod Gosling and vocalist Cecilia Page. The album takes certain Canterbury-derived elements and reinterprets them in a noir and mysterious key, placing them in a more modern context shaped around Cecilia’s voice, which clearly plays a central role (though there are moments of purely instrumental sections and long sessions of organ and synthesizer sounds) and at times serves as the very backbone upon which the individual tracks rest (see "The Lamb," "Crestone Ridge"). The beautiful thing, what might be the true strength, is that it’s hard to give it an exact genre definition. The duo jumps from a certain form of French chanson styled like Serge Gainsbourg to sophisticated synthetic baroque atmospheres, spatial lounge dimensions, and that histrionic psychedelia of the United States of America (clearly inserted within a visionary context, but in a different setting). Had it come out forty years ago, it would have been just another record of psychedelic folk music, perhaps with references to Celtic culture. Instead, today, who knows, perhaps it could be defined more as a kind of post-modern sacred music. It holds up over time, without losing its edge even after a year. That’s no small feat. I believe they released a new single recently, so, well, I imagine they’ll soon put out a new LP; let’s see if they can maintain this ecstatic, ultra-dimensional formula without taking dangerous indie dérives.
Cobalt Chapel - Three Paths Charm
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