This Material Moment

With each of her projects, Me Lost Mes Jayne Dent creates an all-encompassing world, and on This Material Moment, its one filled with tension and uncertainty. Though her previous album RPG revolved around the imaginary landscapes of video games, the tangible here and now her fourth full-length focuses on feels even less stable. One thing is certain: This Material Moment features some of Dents most emotional songwriting. The automatic writing techniques she learned during her studies with Julia Holter shook loose fears and confessions she could no longer avoid, and she confronts them and the "negative days" she outlines on the brooding album opener, "Useful Analogies." Dent skillfully uses languages power to capture and subvert states of being on the clanging, crashout standout "Compromise!," where she sounds more defiant every time she sings the titular word. This Material Moments return to reality downplays the electronics that made RPG teem with virtual life in favor of echoing spaces where the past and future coexist, and where Dent weaves classical, folk, industrial, and rock together seamlessly. On "A Painting of the Wind," a bittersweet reflection on the gap between reality and representations of it, the harmonies and instrumentation allude to styles of music from many centuries before; "Have You Been Changing?" and "Ancient Summer" borrow from icy post-punk, yet they all feel of a piece. The cavernous sonics heighten the timeless quality of Me Lost Mes music on luminous, nearly a cappella pieces such as "Still Life" and "A Souvenir." They also underscore the albums lonely, unsettled heart. The wonderfully eerie "A Small Hand, Clamped" and nightmarish "Take It on Board" resemble folk dirges from the future, offering little reassurance but plenty of haunting mood. A more challenging work than RPG, This Material Moment is distinctive, deeply felt music from an artist committed to discovering new ways of looking at -- and listening to -- the world. ~ Heather Phares