Although she has a pair of EPs to her credit, the York, UK-based crafter of ethereal electronics Lucy Gooch is releasing her debut album Desert Window on June 6 through Fire Records. Lush but deeply layered, Gooch’s work combines complexity and warmth that is enhanced by her rich, soaring vocals. Unusually robust for a debut, the set is available on marble vinyl with a signed lyrics art print and white vinyl without the print, along with the barebones digital option.
Lucy Gooch is often compared to Kate Bush, and that’s understandable, but the flat fact is nobody is going to confuse either artist for the other. For one thing, Gooch is less pop-centered than Bush, though Desert Window does reinforce that its maker has her way with a tune. This melodic strength comes through strongest in “Keep Pulling Me In” alongside the record’s sturdiest groove, and in the title track, which closes the record.
More frequently, Gooch utilizes folk structures as a foundation, and straight away at the beginning of Desert Window’s opener “Like Clay” and most prominently later in the album during “Jack Hare.” It’s in “Like Clay” where Gooch’s use of skilled (and overlapping) vocal loops is set in motion, a technique that recurs throughout the album but in a fairly restrained manner, the strategy serving the broader landscape of her work rather than pinning her down and defining her inside a particular genre.
That is, electronic elements expand the possibilities available to Gooch instead of restricting her stylistically. Dreamlike atmospheres are prevalent across Desert Window as Gooch exceeds the realms of dream pop. “Night Window (Part One)” exudes retrofuturistic textures transforming into spacy ambience that bleeds right into part two and a series of vibrant crescendos.
In “Night Window (Part Two)” the similarities to Bush shift via experimental art-pop motions into a short stretch that’s fleetingly reminiscent of Bjork. The gist is that Gooch is resistant to being pinned down while also avoiding forced eclecticism. Desert Window is focused through an appealing diversity. The flutes in “Jack Hare” introduce an Eastern influence, while the gusts of trumpet in the back half of “Clouds” initiate a brief jazzy conversation that connects like a classic studio album guest spot.
Overall, the appeal of Desert Window is based upon the music’s exquisite drift and Gooch’s deft bursts of color. It’s ethereal rather than rhythmic but multidimensional. Rarely is a debut album this assured.
GRADED ON A CURVE:
A-
