Glasser
BIOGRAPHY:
It’s a well known fact that any female musician who makes electronica-tinged music with a certain meandering, dreamy, ethereal, wistful, airy etc. etc. quality is a rip-off of Björk or Kate Bush. Or both. Or at least those two.
Despite this blatant plagiarism, however, this sub-genre has pumped out some of the most refreshing and original music of the past few years, with Bat For Lashes and Fever Ray being two of the more obvious examples. The newest member of this troupe of rip-off merchants (if you haven’t detected the irony by now there really is no hope for you) is Cameron Mesirow, better known by her stage name Glasser.
LA native Ms. Mesirow has been blessed with an upbringing that would be considered weird by anyone’s standards (mum was in 70s/80s new wavers Human Sexual Response and dad is a member of the Blue Man Group), but while you’d expect the product to be some kind of awful semi-autobiographical sitcom, Glasser’s music is probably as far away from that as is possible. Her early tracks were distinctly lo-fi, made on GarageBand in Mesirow’s bedroom, but these rough drafts have evolved and been refined over time, and the end product is Glasser’s debut album, Ring.
Released on turbo-cool True Panther Sounds (home of Delorean, Real Estate, Teengirl Fantasy et al.), Ring is undoubtedly one of this year’s best debuts. The album is full of sounds that will be familiar to the listener, but that have been crafted into something ever so slightly unsettling, an effect accentuated by layers of Mesirow’s almost ghostly vocals on top. ‘Home’ is a perfect example, with a trickling marimba riff underpinned by thick synths and crashing toms while the word ‘home’ soars overhead. Anyone who’s been a fan of School of Seven Bells’ new age sound will appreciate the soft-electro of ‘Mirrorage’, and album closer ‘Clamour’ creates a delightful racket with the help of a sax and steel drums. Credit for the pristine production on the album goes to Van Rivers and The Subliminal Kid, who have recently lent their hand to records by Fever Ray and Blonde Redhead.
Aside from her own music, Glasser has collaborated with her best friend, artist Tauba Auerbach (album centrepiece ‘T’ is about her), on the ‘Auerglass’ (see what they did there…) art project, which, without going into too much detail, involves a specially made pump organ which requires two people to play it, and a piece composed by Mesirow. If you’re still confused, there’s a video below of a performance for you to enjoy.
Today’s musical landscape may be blighted by derivative bands recycling ideas from acts of yore, but for every one of those who refuse to try anything new, you can find another who has the vision and ambition to create something unique and exciting. If Ring is anything to go by, Glasser is going to continue to get us excited for a while yet. Potential crap sitcoms’ loss is clearly music’s gain.
FREE DOWNLOAD:
Listen to ‘Mirrorage’, a standout from Glasser’s debut LP Ring, via this free download from Matador Records.
TOUR DATES:
3/11/10 – Troubadour, West Hollywoo
4/11/10 – Popscene, San Francisco
6/11/10 – Holocene, Portland
7/11/10 – The Crocodile, Seattle
10/11/10 – Motore, Montreal
11/11/10 – Drake Hotel, Chicago
12/11/10 – Pike Room, Pontiak
LINKS:
VIDEOS:
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Auerglass Project
Article by Stan Morgan.