This is an extraordinary record. It's one which will likely fly under the radar for a lot of folks, and also one which doesn't easily slip into a genre. For those reasons, and many more, Quiet in a World Full of Noise by Dawn Richard and Spencer Zahn stands as one of the best releases of 2024, and one that writers such as myself need to rave about as much as possible.
Vocalist Dawn Richard has teamed up with multi-instrumentalist Spencer Zahn before, and while 2022's Pigments staked out territory simmilar to that found here on this 2024 long-player, this one is somehow a bolder release for what it leaves out. This is a release where silence plays a part, almost as much as Dawn's voice or whatever instrument Spencer is playing behind her. "Breath Out" builds from the simplest of starts, coalescing sounds into a swell which is symphonic in scope but still wildly intimate. Similarly, "Moments for Stillness" is barely there, the swooning strings carrying this forward with a grace that's natural and entirely unaffected. The beauty of "Stains", a real highlight here, is found in the way it mixes the kind of music that Massive Attack once pursued, with an approach to keyboards that Keith Jarrett would have quietly envied.
Superly realized, glacial in pace but overflowing with warm vocals and surprisingly simple instrumentation, Quiet in a World Full of Noise is a fantastic album. Very few releases in 2024 really come close to the purely realized pleasures of this offering from Dawn Richard and Spencer Zahn. With nothing overthought, the stark comforts of this collection reassure that for those operating a bit outside of the margins of mainstream indie, there's still so much to say by saying so very little at all. Stunning.
Quiet in a World Full of Noise by Dawn Richard and Spencer Zahn is out on Merge Records this week.
[Photo: Clifford Usher]