GLASSxTEETH - Whispers Heard Through Waiting Room Windows

 Released: March 26

Whispers Heard Through Waiting Room Windows is a somewhat conflicted album in both its themes and presentation. Thematically, the album deals very subtly with a contention regarding human connection. Presentation-wise, it blends several distinct emotional responses to its themes including a dark and eerie feeling of separation and isolation along with certain feeling of comfort in have a thin barrier of proximity that is the semi-translucent pane of glass. Or, as the artist puts it, “distance makes proximity easier.”

The story, so to speak, is told in five distinct but overlapping parts. The begninning of the album takes us into deeply atmospheric soundscapes that are barely perceptible at times. It evokes a sense of neutral gray walls with a permeating fog that obscure faces and figures, like a sort of negative space devoid of human interaction. With the next few pieces, this dreary haze becomes a bit of a nightmare with ratcheting, grinding, and fluttering mechanicals and even a something akin to a human scream. Each time this tension ratchets though, it always slowly returns to that dreary hazy of sound that seems to define the album. A melange of melancholy and bits of brightness that feels much like the neutral-toned waiting rooms we often find ourselves in. 

With the ending track, this theme persists. But this is joined with the brightest of sounds in the form of an intricate and emotive flute solo. It contrasts so beautifully here with the grayed and blurred tones formed from field recordings, reverberations, and granular sounds. It brings a certain human touch as we hear the soft notes with all of the idiosyncrasies of a woodwind instrument play against the dreary and somewhat melancholy tones. It’s a rather beautiful finish that lingers long after the end.