Tristen - Aquatic Flowers

Nach der Geburt ihres ersten Kindes Julian und während der weltweiten Pandemie entstand das vierte reguläre Album von Tristen Gaspadarek, für dessen Cover sie sich ein Gemälde der Künstlerin Megan Kimber aussuchte: „So much like the painting on the cover - a melancholic, childlike woman in a bathtub - the album was made in these intimate moments of isolation and calm.“

Aufgenommen wurde es von der Singer/Songwriterin sowie Poetin gemeinsam mit ihrem Ehemann und musikalischen Partner Buddy Hughen in ihrem häuslichen Studio in Nashville. Auf 11 Songs, das scheint ein Konzept von Tristen zu sein, bietet sie entspannten Folkpop und eingängigen Gitarrenpop, irgendwo zwischen Jenny Lewis, Aimee Mann und The Bangles. „Aquatic Flowers“ ist als CD und LP erhältlich, die Schallplatte gibt es in limitierter Auflage auch auf cool blue Vinyl.

Der Hit des Albums ist zweifelsohne „Complex“:

 

On “I Need Your Love,” Tristen delivers one of the album’s catchier melodies, bringing to mind a cross between The Crystals’ “Then He Kissed Me” and The Shirelles’ “Will You Love Me Tomorrow.” “Athena” is perhaps the album’s standout track, a folk-rock gem driven and texturized by Buddy Hughen’s layered guitars (clean/rhythmic and reverb-y/melodic). As the piece unfolds, it adopts a trippy feel, reminiscent of Kurt Vile’s psychedelic folk on 2011’s Smoke Ring for My Halo. (…)

One of Aquatic Flowers’ moodier and more lyrically intriguing tracks, the album’s closer, “Say Goodnight,” overtly points to the singer wanting to sleep so as to avoid a disagreement with her partner. The lines “Let me fly away / a grain of sand into the sea / mouth of darkness,” however, coupled with the fuzzy ambience added to the track midway, point to the viability of a secondary and more disturbing interpretation: the singer welcoming death, perhaps via sleeping pills, her “Goodnight” tantamount to a final farewell.

(No Depression)

 

Catchy opener Complex questions those instincts we all have for self-sabotage, and tries to face up to her own fears and short comings. I don’t know why I act this way... she muses to herself. Her musical touch is unfussy, creating a breezy indie pop sound throughout the album. The end of the song layers her singing ‘I love you’ with ‘I’m so scared’ suggesting her internal struggle has yet to be fully resolved. Self doubt becomes a trap on Wrong With You, where the deep ‘grooves’ of her loathing work to destabilise confidence in her relationship.

On Die 4 Love she sings about the fact that ‘everything else is so empty in these times’, and the only thing left to cling on to is love. The sentiment may sound almost twee in a way but there’s a passionate wisdom to her words. The jangly, sugary ‘I Need Your Love’ has a witty, light hearted tone, longing for love no matter who it might be with.

Athena is dedicated to the overlooked and underrated warrior goddess of the title, connecting her story to the sorrow of our own broken and violent world. Co-written with Lera Lynn, the song perfectly channels and honours female strength and power. (…)

On ‘Aquatic Flowers’ Tristen offers us a little lifeboat in the tumultuous waves of this world. The storm may not be over anytime soon but at least these songs are a delightful, diverting distraction.

(Highway Queens)