Cross Record is a project from the Austin, TX artist Emily Cross. To call her new self-titled album experimental would be besides the point. It seems more a visual and psychological demonstration than musical exploration. Cross seems determined and resigned all at once: determined to stick with nearly monotonic trajectories, and resigned to the fact that her determination is the far stronger demon than any other on her shoulder. It makes the odd flourishes of the music almost joyous, even though you consciously recognize that they too are short and seemingly prosaic.
This artificially created contrast seems a consistent theme in her new video: “PYSOL (put your shoes on leave) My Castle” literally has Emily crawl into a sensory deprivation chamber. Yes, one of those contraptions that 4 kids from an ’80s monster show managed to replicate so they could dim out this miserly plane of existence to have a seance with aliens. I care not whether this was a purposeful design – it really does work. “Licorice” is a particularly good example of the heightened senses one acquires when the baseline is nearly a flat line. At 2:54, it doesn’t bore you with repetitions of the same idea. It is a surprisingly wonderful test flight. Now that this piece is done, IYDM I am going back to solitary.
Cross Record is out now on Ba Da Bing Records.