082: dog eyes - firsts
I've been meaning to write about this gem of a record for a while now, it keeps finding a way to linger, to dig its nails in a little further. A duo from Oakland, dog eyes make a hypnotic blend of lofi folk and pop with little electronic flourishes and their latest album finds increasingly compelling ways of bringing those many textures together.
Sometimes that portrays itself in skewed, blurry unravellings seemingly pulled from the middle of the night when nobody else is around to listen, elsewhere it's something altogether more pop-orientated, Haily Firstman's voice akin to Ethel Caine only with the widescreen drama slammed shut inside a porch door. She doesn't lead on all the tracks however, with Davis Leach's voice delivering something even more scorched and faded on the moments it takes centre-stage.
The blurb that accompanies the album describes the songs as "mini epics" and there's definitely something in that. The longest song here is just three-and-a-half minutes but it never really feels slight or under-cooked.
We're sharing 'firsts' out here as a track to dig into but you could throw a dart at the tracklist and land on something equally captivating. With a gentle flow of beats underpinning Firstman's downbeat and dispirited lyrics, it's a snapshot of the album's wider themes: an imaginary person you place on the ultimate pedestal, a kind of Frankenstein vessel that houses the best qualities about the people in your life.
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