(2021) Leila Abdul-Rauf - Phantasiai  


Review:
Oakland-based multi-instrumentalist has a masterful understanding of both composition and gothic aesthetics, crafting symphonies from empty spaces adorned with both alarming sounds and serene voices. Perhaps it’s her experience in the metal scene that inform her personal output; perhaps it’s a willingness to subvert and challenge what constitutes extreme music. Either way, Phantasiai, Abdul-Rauf’s 4th album, continues her excavation of the dark abyss. The album’s powerful voice communicates a volume of ideas without words, from a muted trumpet to a woman’s Gregorian harmonizing during “Distortions in Phantasy.” These motifs emerge as ambient structures that define the album’s soundscape, revised almost endlessly and reinterpreted throughout. These additions, of course, take on the shape of new sounds, or even silences, distinct pauses where a low-end note occupies the listener only to later introduce the calming sound of a bird’s morning trill, shifting over to contrast it with a roaring horn as a spectral, throated vocal chant emerges. Abdul-Rauf’s LP Insomnia utilized a similar vocal effect, specifically on “Midnight” and “The Opening”. Here though, it’s been completely refined to a sharper edge. Phantasiai continually revels in surprises and immersion. Stoic horns and passages of pure menace carry the listener into a dissenting madness through the suite, embodying a tactile horror in every instrumental choice while still maintaining consistent harmonic discipline throughout the compositions. Directional progression is incredibly difficult to communicate in music that doesn’t typically feature a lyric-driven narration, but this album excels in pushing listeners from a place of relative comfort into a dark, confined place. The album comprises two suites, and the latter, “The I Emerges,” is a reflection of the first in many ways. Bells and chimes swirl into foregrounds, delicately fluttering before turning into arrangements of echo-laden chaos. However, for the sake of distinction, there’s not truly enough variance between the suites, at least until the last two parts, which add a repertoire of new sounds and contemplates their extreme nature, which at times provides a truly lush and terrifying experience. Abdul-Rauf has in the past produced albums that compositionally have a more dynamic range. 2018’s Diminution was much more layered, experimenting with sounds that felt unique from track to track, constantly ushering in new ways for the listener to engage with the gothic aesthetics that define her signature sound. In Phantasiai’s defense, it isn’t meant to be a consistently evolving experience, but the encapsulation of its suites is a composite effort, like a true symphony. It’s difficult to truly identify every instrument that is being used throughout, but everything sounds like what would typically be used in an Abdul-Rauf arrangement. Curiously, the usage of synths and drone techniques, at least overtly, has diminished throughout her solo career. Her debut LP Cold and Cloud leaned heavily into a more electronic sound that thankfully has slowly diminished over the years. While it’s interesting to speculate what this album would have sounded like with a bevy of blaring synths and fractured glitch loops, it’s better off without it, sounding incredibly pure and devoutly classical. This album isn’t for everyone. It’s quiet, maybe too quiet. It’s also not an album that can be listened to at just any time; it deserves space, attention and reason, and to be listened to in proper order. If you’re put off by aural horror and sounds that truly ache and linger in your bones, this isn’t for you. But if such things intrigue you, you’ll feel this in your bones. Like myths and songs of the ancient world, Phantasiai’s compositions are narratives waiting to be filled with a suite of characters and conflicts of our own choosing. Abdul-Rauf achieves a raw, intense power, and at the same time something truly ethereal, communicated with sometimes expert grace. This is a draining affair in the best way possible, designed to go for your psyche’s throat and leave nothing but an ambient wasteland in its wake.





Track Listing:
1.Distortions In Phantasy I_Suspension 05:02
2.Distortions In Phantasy II_Consumption 04:14
3.Distortions in Phantasy III_Disembodiment 04:56
4.Distortions In Phantasy IV_Lure 03:59
5.The I Emerges I_Imago and Mirror 05:04
6.The I Emerges II_In and Out of Being 04:25
7.The I Emerges III_Cell 05:32
8.The I Emerges IV_Rebirth 05:40


Media Report:
Genre: ambient
Country: USA
Format: FLAC
Format/Info: Free Lossless Audio Codec, 16-bit PCM
Bit rate mode: Variable
Channel(s): 2 channels
Sampling rate: 44.1 KHz
Bit depth: 16 bits