Misha Chylkova
Dancing the Same Dance
Gare Du Nord Records
Cycles of romantic dysfunction were meant to be broken, although Dancing the Same Dance wouldn’t be nearly as interesting without Misha Chylkova’s forensic study of recurring relationship mistakes and painful outcomes. Relapses are common, with newfound passions eventually cooled by self-sabotage and treachery, until other opportunities arise. Yes, love is war, with battles fought internally and externally, but surrender is only temporary.
That’s nothing new, of course, but to Chylkova, it’s still fresh and intriguing to watch patterns emerge while couching her keen observations in dark, hypnogogic art-pop, the Czech artist’s assured debut album arriving in a deserted town haunted by Angel Olsen and Zola Jesus. No stop sign exists at its intersection of bewitching psychedelia and electric, indie-folk rock, where the shimmering strum and warm organ ooze of “Sparrows” and “Doing it All Wrong” cast a melodic spell that cannot be broken and “Dead Plants” drums insistently amid whirring clouds that could burst at any minute.
Into this rapturous murk — like that which spreads from the undulating, drifting electronica of a sprawling “Love.Or.” and blows up in a perfectly triggered, slow-motion cosmic eruption — fall Chylkova’s occasionally autobiographical lyrics, swimming in the hypnotic surges of “Will You” and gliding over the watery expanse, blurred vocals, and metallic clatter of “The Loop.” She’s managing the whole phantasmagorical operation, with both ethereal detachment and acute focus, colluding with Hefner’s Darren Hayman and Ian Button, from Death in Vegas and Thrashing Doves, to make its shadowy, bleeding heart pump. Mastering and mixing otherworldly sonic elements is co-producer Jonathan Clayton, as Chylkova and company whip up a moody Magical Mystery Tour that has more in common with Low’s recent experimental brooding and washes than The Beatles’ trippy, vivid murals.
A day in the life, or the mind, of Misha Chylkova, whose singular artistic vision is something to behold at the dawning of her career, must be incredibly interesting.
