The new album from Spellling, Mazy Fly, out on Friday via Sacred Bones Records, is the sort of release that straddles so many genres with ease that it's darn near impossible to describe the music in its grooves in words. An elegant, at times lyrical record, this second album from Chrystia Cabral is really a special thing in a season ripe with good new releases.
While a tune like "Melted Wings" and its washes of keyboards bear the faintest of traces of earlier pioneers like Ryuichi Sakamoto, the strangely-catchy "Under The Sun" echoes Fad Gadget and Berlin, Spellling's breathy vocals here the sound of a comedown after a night out. Elsewhere, "Dirty Desert Dreams" is very nearly a club tune, while the stately "Secret Thread" sounds a bit like some mix of Donna Summer and early Gary Numan, electronic music that's decidedly human and warm. Spellling makes this all sound remarkably easy, with the bits and pieces of other forms stirred together naturally here.
There are things here on Mazy Fly that give some of this a retro vibe, but most of Mazy Fly feels like those early records from Broadcast or Goldfrapp, where a listener felt like something familiar was being heard, even as there was so much more there that was new and unearthly. The sound of dreams and wishes, the frequently lush Mazy Fly is the sort of record one can get deliriously lost in, and it's a record that deserves a lot of attention.
Mazy Fly is out on Friday via Sacred Bones Records.
More details on Spellling via the band's official Facebook page.
[Photo: Catalina Xavlena]