Does anything sound like L'Rain?

Having released possibly the best debut album of the decade last year - enough to push her to #76 on our annual poll - Taja Cheek seems on the precipice of musical revelation.

A sample. The a cappella chords ending Stay, Go (Go, Stay), suddenly jacknifing through unimaginable keychanges and then vanishing, all in the space of about three seconds. A glimpse of the infinite. Pure psychedelia.

This is a thread for her, and for all your inadequate comparisons to her near-genreless dream-noise.

She's v good, no lie.

Yeah, she's great.

To the extent comparisons are actually wanted, I feel like the most conventionally pretty parts of this album overlap somewhat with the most abstracted parts of the Mr Twin Sister album (plus the follow-up single "The Erotic Book"), though I suspect that you aren't looking for a smoother take, imago.

The album appealed to the same part of me that loves A Sunny Day in Glasgow. They're not quite as near genrelessness but they do make dream-noise.

There are similarities in the Mr Twin Sister sound-world (I'm listening to the whole album now, and quite enjoying it, thanks) but a completely different approach to composition, as you say - whereas this is smooth and stately, L'Rain is restless and intricate, with unusual harmonies and interlocking tempi everywhere. I don't know how to say this without sounding like a terrible elitist but she has a high level of musical training and I think that the ability to conceptualise and execute complex music gives her so much scope to realise her vision. Obviously you don't need loads of musical training to execute complex music, and training without a corresponding artistic imagination is useless, but there is a lot going on with L'Rain that's incredibly unusual and difficult to do, without for a moment sacrificing listenability or flow.

Or, to look at it another way: three years yielded twenty-six minutes. More artists should try that sort of ratio

Don't get the love for this record. It sounds like an indistinct blur to me, whole things very samey. Maybe nothing sounds like it cuz it's not that unique ?

i don't think that's how it works

*open mouth to speak*

*shakes head, walks away*

Mr. Twin Sister seems to be a good comparison point. I also hear a decent amount of Strange Mercy-era St. Vincent (the best era of St. Vincent) in the alchemy.

I'm sorry, I bought this on recommendation of the year end lists. I should try it again with an open mind

nothing sounds like it cuz it's not that unique
nothing sounds like it cuz it's not that unique
nothing sounds like it cuz it's not that unique
nothing sounds like it cuz it's not that unique
nothing sounds like it cuz it's not that unique
nothing sounds like it cuz it's not that unique

I mean nothing's created in a vacuum and everything but I find it hard to detect influences for this when it's outside my usual purview, I guess that could mean it's not that special and I wouldn't know I guess.

imago once likened 'Bat' to the Sea Nymphs which I can hear though L'Rain obviously comes from more of a jazz background, but there's a similar harmonic lushness

I guess

The thing it most reminds me of is Maxwell's 'Embrya'. Not so much the songs but something about the whole diffuse and subaquatic vibe, the ability to focus largely on groove and texture but in this incredibly lush and emotionally resonant way.

Yeah I thought of Embrya too - though I think that has a somewhat similar relationship to L'Rain as Mr Twin Sister (in part b/c Embrya is much more groove-focused and tight than most people normally allow).

For the purpose of this thread I expect imago probably is focused near-exclusively on "the ability to conceptualise and execute complex music".

I see that with L'Rain obv but it's a feature that doesn't necessarily attract me (though I don't find it off-putting either).

Typically when I enjoy music that could be described as complex, it's not the complexity per se but the density (rhythmic, chromatic, lyrical) that I'm actually getting off on - and something can be both dense and smooth at the same time.

complexity without sensitivity is worthless - and the complexity here is harnessed to provide that dense, smooth, deeply psychedelic experience you describe

i don't want schoenberg or vdgg posted here fhs! mr twin sister and maxwell are both very much getting at it. the intensity of the dream.

going through this album again this morning

such a wonderful thing :')

imago i'm sorry - i was wrong about this album

the last bastion of dissent has fallen, now only glory and acclaim for l'rain

lol <3

the pitchshifting section of the opening track is so utterly amazing

there's quite a lot of pitchshifting on this album i guess. makes me wonder why more people don't try it. guess they don't want their music to sound like a full heaven-dream

i keep seeing new releases by an artist called l'orange for a second and get excited before realizing that they're not actually l'rain

https://lrain.bandcamp.com/album/fatigue

hype

*triple-checking that this is l'rain and not l'orange*

oh, sick

this preview track omg

Wonderful news!

Wow, v cool

Spellling isn't the only haunted art pop soul artist releasing an album tomorrow!

i could do with a good day

so excited for this

They also have a good track on Modern Love, the recent Bowie trib (which is mostly good, 12 out of 17 tracks, incl. a lot of songs I hadn't heard before, and beyond Bo's own vocal limits):
https://bbemusic.bandcamp.com/track/move-on-l-rain

New album is really good. I love how the songs drift and morph but retain some kind of coherence, it doesn't just feel like randomly scattered pieces.

I can't stand L'rain

jk

Can't believe it took three years of this thread for someone to make that joke.

new album is good but absolutely nowhere near as good as the first one imo, it feels much less dreamlike, the emotional palette has been squashed a bit, viz. the title

It's more jagged, yeah. Don't know if it's not as good tho. I'm digging it.

Kill Self into Two Face is awesome

that was my favorite stretch on first listen (the "yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah" part on "Kill Self"!), though "Find It" also gave me a first-time-I-heard-"Daniel" feeling

I love a good palette-squashing, definitely seems intentional

def a harsher more frazzled/fractured sound but seems appropriate & i'm feeling it, will open up all kinds of ways i'm sure

can't decide if tripping to this one would be a great or terrible idea

the new one is fine but doesn't really deliver on the promise of the debut in the way i would have expected from a follow-up, i agree the debut was better.

i think it's too early to say which of her two albums i prefer, but the overwhelming response to this one sure seems a case of the hype machine working overtime because they feel dumb for neglecting the last one

Yeah, kind of a normal cycle. But this is also a very good album imo. Interesting to listen to it alongside the Spelling and new Sault — obviously they're all very different, but they have a somewhat similar kaleidoscopic approach to genre and song structure?

Oh shit AOTY

Wow I better hear it.

Getting a lot of play

Grim

Today in European racism: we try to bring guitars onto a @britishairways flight as we have on small flights this whole time and get told that we cannot. We protest, and the airport worker gets rude and mean. A white person stands up and tells him to stop- that it seems racist.

— Taja / L’Rain (@lrain0000) November 23, 2021

probably her best yet though it's still a bit fragmented with the interludes

I just like having the physical media so I can rediscover it a while after I last played it and think oh wow should have played this more.
Apart from having the thingto play at the time.
A set of audiofiles needs a different player.

But have enjoyed what I've heard so far.

i'm not sure releasing cds makes much sense at all for indie acts below a certain level of popularity

probably not but would help me.
I#m still consuming music that way. & need something to listen to in my bedroom.
& does mean longevity to me.

Even some fairly low-key indie artists sometimes sell CDs via Bandcamp (looks like L’Rain just has vinyl, tho)

Is l'rain's new album the second King's new album which will never be released?

The interludes feel pretty effective here, I think. "I Hate My Best Friends" like a bit of fresh air at that point of the record.

Not everything here works perfectly (and maybe I'll end up liking Fatigue more when all is said and done?), but it's quite apparent that L'Rain actually loves (or perhaps is just very very driven) to make music. She's always happy to entertain another idea. Not a lot of "will this do?" on her records.

Bravo.

Did we ever answer the question in the thread's title?

Or has anyone come along in the 5.5 years since who fits the bill?

think we decided keiyaA wasn't too far off, that's as close as I can think, still not that close

I relistened to the new one last night for 2023 list ordering purposes, was lovely

"Pet Rock" reminds me of Unknown Mortal Orchestra a bit

last year's corinne bailey rae album was on a somewhat similar wavelength

just noticed that the show i'm seeing tonight is listed as "a rare live album recording," now i'm worried about applauding well

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UmPlTst22dE

Deeply seated for this

https://lrain.bandcamp.com/album/fata-morgana

Oh my god the new track

She's come back to save metal

FUCK ME. I love it I love it I love it. Very exciting.

really cool track. so excited for this now.

ooh, liking this a lot. I really liked her debut and then kind of lost interest with her next two albums (though I'm not totally sure I gave her last one a fair shot) but this is really hitting for me right now.

The last one was a big improvement over Fatigue imo

ooh, liking this a lot. I really liked her debut and then kind of lost interest with her next two albums (though I'm not totally sure I gave her last one a fair shot) but this is really hitting for me right now.

― silverfish

Exactly the same for me. I liked them, but they didn't excite me in the way the debut did. This, for whatever reason, does excite me again.

just heard it, reminds me a bit of early Lush

how good is this album gonna be goddamn

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjq3UA3HxxA

Love this. Just bought a ticket to go see them

New album is out!

awesome, the two preview tracks were amazing

Just struck me that Cate Le Bon's last album reminds me quite a bit of L'Rain. Perhaps a gross oversimplification, but it seems to me L'Rain has been working with this sound more or less from her first album, whereas Le Bon's last album was the first time she really focused on creating songs that keep building vertically the way L'Rain's do.

july 5th and elmyra are early non-single standouts to me.

new album has some vocal harmonies that made me remember king's music. or maybe i'm hearing things that never existed (great possibility).

i could hear that, obv. it's a bit more out there than king but some of the vocals remind me of them a bit

“July 5th” is awesome but I was sitting there thinking “what is this reminding me of?”
Only to realise it was Panda Bear.

Whole album is excellent

"soulless cycle" is like if you were influenced by My Bloody Valentine but had only heard mbv not Loveless

"birthday"!!!!!

new album a triumph

forever proud to have technically shared a bill with her. i will bring this up for the rest of my life

i would too!

new album is excellent, feels like a new height

Truly so. Hoping for a tour here, unless I've missed an announcement.

She had one of the late-night slots at Solid Sound earlier this summer (which typically goes to more experimental fare, like Horse Lords, Black Midi, etc.) and was pretty mesmerizing. Wish I had been more familiar with the new album, though who knows if that would have made a difference.

Truly so. Hoping for a tour here, unless I've missed an announcement.

Dec 2nd at Rickshaw

Ah very good! Onto the calendar here...

I'm just discovering her. I like this album

"Birthday" is one of my favorite songs by her so far.

Alfred: Definitely recommend you to listen to her previous albums if you like this one, they were both present in our top 77 eoy albums poll (#11 in 2021 and #68 in 2023).

This one is great and I expect it to do well in this year's poll too.

i'm slowly getting into this. 'borderline' blew me away on the headphones today.

yea, wasn't blown away by my first listen, then listened on headphones this morning and preferred that experience quite a bit. there are little moments in each song that grab me, sometimes i wish she would stick with them for a bit longer.

will give it another shot

I'd done my ILX due diligence by checking her out before this one, but this is the first album I've felt really compelled by, it tickles my sweet spot between experimentation and pleasure

yuck why did I write that

it's both weird and beautiful is all I'm saying

listen she's a queer artist she's going for that sweet spot as a matter of course

I found my nice earbuds! This sounded much better on a listen with decent pseudo-bass than the air pods from the last decade I was using as backup.

xp voodoo chili

Agree wrt wishing she would stick with certain moments a bit longer. I was lucky to see her play in nyc when she was touring her last album and I felt she and her band stretched those moments longer and, perhaps most importantly to me, let them develop into beautifully intricate and all-consuming swirls of euphoric noise.

Highly recommend seeing her on her upcoming tour, it was one of the best shows I've ever seen!

Before I clicked on the thread I somehow misread it as "Does anything sound like LaTour?", which seemed like a real ILM sort of thread revive.