Lucrecia Dalt – S/T

Next up on Other People, Nicolas Jaar’s digital only subscription label is Lucrecia Dalt with ‘S/T’.

Following and expanding upon the line of thought put forward in her 2013 album Syzygy, Lucrecia Dalt ends in a place familiar, yet noticeably different on her new EP S/T. Its two tracks, ‘Esotro’ and ‘Veta’, continually defy expectation ― haunting vocal ballads that trickle into clouds of white noise ― but for an acquainted listener that won’t surprise. What may are the music´s newly raw textures and palpable weight, counterbalancing the carefully wrought beauty that’s always been there.

You wouldn´t be totally wrong to call Dalt a “bedroom producer,” but anyone can grab a laptop, a production software, and begin experimenting in the comfort of their own home. It’s rare to find a “bedroom producer” like Dalt with so sharp an ear, matching intimacy with technical rigor beat for beat. Her music is honest, for sure, but also impeccably engineered.

To that point, everything on S/T Dalt crafted herself ― no samples, no Ableton Live presets. Her composition process, much like her live set, is an improvisation structured by the tools at hand. Sounds are routed and re- routed, filtered and trimmed, finally emerging as envisioned, or, as often, not.

Take the vocal textures on ‘Veta’: “Ahs and Ohs” made by people throughout the world that she compiled through an open call made on her tumblr. But regardless of method, she always produces crystal-clear, ever surprising, seemingly inevitable music. At every stage, she´s an original.