The glitter oh the glitter of this track, 'Fedora', the gleaming in-the-sky noises that veil this track with an intimate expanse of heavenly proportions. The liquid waterfall sounds give a sense of cool fluidity, a sloshing wateriness that feels refreshing, and twinned with the chimes and the tract of metallic objects tumbling teasingly throughout, these sounds provide an almost overwhelming blanket of texture, an intense eartickle of sharp glossy insectoid noises, like the piercing ambient noises that swirl in rainforests – the scratchy bugs, the rustling leaves, the crunch of feet on the ground, a neardistant stream – a thicket of sound that is undeniable in how it satisfies the listener as much as a close-up smell of something so beautiful it verges on unbearable, the scent of Earl Grey tea imprisoned and released from its tin, the zing of alcohol and rushing mellow sweetness of vanilla extract. It is a close-up sound, a minuscule sound, a microcosm of these minuscule sounds, a colony: in other words, as far as your senses are concerned, it is alive.
And with this bristling jostle of bright solar powered life glinting and clink clanking with sheen and sparkles Stew Stim adds the gentle haze of synth chords, breezy tones that herald peacefulness and relaxation, they way they rise into the atmosphere like distorted air on a hot summer's day, resonate gladly as the track introduces the beat—overdriven kicks bump into the halo of percussive minutiae, hi-hats shuffle, slapping hand-claps clatter in syncopation—a reflection of human clumsiness, heavy-handed violence in the purity of this delicate imaginary space. And in the midst of this robust clacking and banging the track continues to bubble and wobble with electronic chimes, melodies that appear and dissipate like clouds, small bopping arpeggios that appear to ascend like sped-up incense smoke. Sweet and substantial, this track has the power to lull as much as excite, a beat experiment firmly on the outer reaches, a blissful orbit of shimmering idealism.
- 🔔 'Fedora' is the opening track to Stew Stim's recent album, a collection of introverted noisy beats and spacey experimentalism called Swine, though 'Fedora' isn't necessarily representative of the more leftfield, often dark bulk of the project. It was released via FRIGHT HOUSE, child-label of rising net-based sensation DESKPOP.
