Mira Calix
Skimskitta
Warp
Warp secretary-gone-artist Mira Calix seem only just about able to bring together the diverse sounds and sketches explored on this sprawling 20-track disc. Opening with the fine “Again, It Starts” Calix explores the more adventurous side of what Mum did last year, although listening to this entire album, it soon enough becomes clear that Calix’s intentions are as far removed from Mum’s as they could possibly be – where Finally We Are No One was an uncompromising and consistent exploration of a certain set of tonalities and frameworks, Skimskitta is an excursion through the casual, the unstable, and the accidental – although both albums do paint with the same brush, using the same colors.
Calix flows over with ideas and wants to put as many of them out in the open, but the album still does loose some steam halfway through, with several mediocre tracks popping up, leaving the listener increasingly frustrated about the album’s unwillingness to move forward and to make coherent sense of its many, diverse pieces. There are quite simply far too many tracks on here failing to go anywhere on their own, or to motivate the album’s (lack of) progression. While Calix’s intention may have been to make a paradoxical and ever-surprising album, Skimskitta’s refusal or lack of ability to move beyond sketchy hisses and glitches makes for a too sprawling, too unfocused affair. A curious and exploring artist, Calix has yet to make the really good album that many of us expect her to do. Thankfully, she retains her curiosity, and she’s still learning.
Warp Records: http://www.warprecords.com/
