After a
Memphis Industries
label debut,
What a Boost
, in 2019 that did just that to her stature in indie circles, frequent
This Is the Kit
collaborator
Rozi Plain
spent much of the next two years in recording studios in places like French Basque Country and the Isle of Eigg as well as in her base of London and in homes across the U.K. Much of that material formed the basis of her label follow-up,
Prize
, which features a core backing band of album co-producer
Jamie Whitby-Coles
(
) on drums,
Amaury Ranger
on bass, and
Gerard Black
on various keyboards and synths. Numerous guest musicians tracked along the way include the likes of
leader
Kate Stables
, avant-garde jazz saxophonist
Alabaster DePlume
, and electronics specialist
Danalogue
the Comet Is Coming
,
Soccer96
), who collectively foreshadow the record's intricate, hypnotic blend of ruminative indie rock, quiet folk, and improvisational jazz, all in keeping with the character of its soft-footed predecessor.
Stables
appears alongside
DePlume
and others on the opening track, "Agreeing for Two," which quickly establishes
Plain
's gentle, double-tracked vocals and her accompaniment's often circular, interior-focused design. That song's crisp drum kit, syncopated guitar motif, and tuneful quality ultimately make it one of the livelier outings here, as the track list seems to move only deeper into dreamy contemplation as it progresses, although the album keeps a spring it its step. Part of its otherwise somnambulant quality comes from sequencing that moves effortlessly between moderate tempos and a consistent underlying instrumental palette, albeit with diversions into absurdist wordplay, as on "Complicated" ("Of course it's complicated/You hate it/It needed eating, so you ate it"), more elaborate, piano-and-strings-accompanied jazz-pop on "Help" ("If it's a feeling that's going/When it goes you won't even know"), and into quirky, shuffling borderline synth pop on "Painted the Room Black" ("This is the way there/Not the way back"). Final track "Blink," with its whimsical whooshing effects, water-droplet synths, buzzy horns, and repetitive, single-note guitar phrases is at least as strange and dreamy as the rest while likewise carrying listeners along on underlying rhythms, as if drifting into a half-sleep state on an airport autowalk. All told,
acts as a companion album to
, further distinguishing
's idiosyncratic sound. ~ Marcy Donelson