Pursuit Grooves: 100 Seams (What Rules, 2023)
May 22, 2023 at 9:30 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment
Pursuit Grooves: 100 Seams
Vanese Smith’s newest release is a tribute to her grandmother, a seamstress, who would have been 100 years old at the time of the album’s production. It thematically resembles Smith’s earlier
91 Fellows release, which, to my ears, completely redefined the concept of dub, to this day I cannot think of any other music that sounds like or captures the same feelings as that record. While that release only sporadically used voices,
100 Seams focuses on spoken poetry, calling back to Smith’s first form of writing before she started emceeing and producing. Lyrics about crafting, creating, and vivid descriptions of materials are scratched turntable-style, making them feel like sonic embroidery. The last PG album,
Mo:Delic Island, was accompanied by visual art presenting strange hybrid fantasy creatures, and this one has a more down-to-earth, nostalgic setting for its verbal illustrations. Some tracks have a house thump, but in PG’s own offbeat way, with the kicks bumping up against thumb pianos and slow claps on “Kitty’s Curtain Panels” and “Woven Memories” being more broken and rattling. “Garner” is more on the hypnotic downtempo tip, and “Seams Together” has some dubby echo causing the delicately ticking beats to vibrate.
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