The Blue of Distance

A co-founder of arty indie pop group Alpenglow in the early 2010s, Elori Saxl (Kramer) went on to compose music for media including commercials, public radio, and short films before the end of the decade. Her debut album, 2021s The Blue of Distance, reflects a fascination with blurring the boundaries between what is recognizably organic or manufactured sound. Written partly in the verdant Adirondack Mountains during the summer and partly on an island in the middle of a frozen Lake Superior, it was inspired by contrasts in both nature and mood. Using flowing water as an early sample source, she employs manipulated recordings of water and wind, a seven-instrument chamber orchestra, and analog synthesizers as her palette, and all intentionally imitate each other here. In addition, much of the album has spartan beats implied by things like vibrato, looped samples, or repeated patterns of notes, as well as by percussive sounds such as the underwater echo effect on Wave II. That low-dwelling echo is accompanied by intertwined layers of clarinet, sustained synth tones, and likewise sustained and plucked strings, which together create musical movement via occasionally shifting pitches, in addition to the rhythmic devices. These blended sounds reach a point -- and the album gets there quickly-- where it can be hard to discern source material, especially when seemingly random dripping and rippling effects are added to the mix. Later, Wave III begins with a soft, reverberating tone, as if in a cave, before adding pulsing unisons by the chamber instruments to establish a circular rhythm thats not unlike listening to waves lap upon the shore. It eventually reaches a rare dramatic climax, which is followed by silence before lissome, harmonized woodwinds close the track. Most of the seven pieces remain in constant motion, however, including lengthier ones like the ten-minute Blue. Named for a term coined by Rebecca Solnit in A Field Guide to Getting Lost, The Blue of Distance refers to distant mountains appearing blue due to the scattering of higher-frequency light. An apt name for Saxls meditative, ultimately wistful-feeling album, it also evokes its persistently immersive water themes. ~ Marcy Donelson