daily rituals - how to measure absence

 

Released: December 19

How to measure absence is a sweeping album comprised of the smallest of parts. Minute pieces of sound combine with one another, bumping into each other in a manner similar to people walking down a crowded street. In isolation, each of these tiny collisions mean very little as they happen and are quickly forgotten. However, as listeners we are given the all-seeing eye view of these interactions, seeing them play out all together as the individual pieces move on past these bumps and into the rest of their experiences. These experiences are shown to use through the use of familiar and discrete sounds such as soft wind blowing, the sound of water hitting the shower floor, and the sounds of the early morning. These sonic slices of life are interwoven with gentle melodies and subtle harmonies to create a sense of passing through time, seemingly at random. 

Throughout the album, there is a variety of choices in sound and instrumentation with much of the album centering around keys and the sounds of one's daily activities. But daily rituals also incorporates other methods such as a bit of acoustic guitar on "missed calls/dark again" with centers heavily around the the slowly strummed chords and the sounds of a room being cleaned, including the clattering of various objects and the soft sweeping of a floor. For other tracks, like "calexico bound, hwy 94, early december," the notion of any melody is dropped completely and instead replaced by softly droning pads, the sounds of the road underneath a traveling car, and quiet radio static. This track in particular seems to exude a certain contented loneliness, the kind that is not completely uncomfortable but is still felt. But that seems to be the underlying tone of the album as all of these experiences that are told to us are from the point of view of one person and only imply the existence of others. It makes a quite daunting yet easy journey.