claire rousay - sentiment [Opaque Yellow LP]

Thrill Jockey

£34.20

Format: LP, Coloured
Catalogue No.: THRILL610LPX
Barcode: 790377610116
Release Date: 19 Apr 2024
Genre: Alternative Rock

sentiment is a meditation of the poignant emotional terrains of loneliness, nostalgia, sentimentality, guilt, and sex. The album’s narrative arc is guided by delicate musical gestures and artistic vulnerability, audaciously synthesizing disparate and unexpected influences. claire rousay is a singular artist, known for challenging conventions in experimental and ambient music forms. rousay masterfully incorporates textural found sounds, sumptuous drones and candid field recordings into music that celebrates the beauty in life’s banalities. Her music is curatorial and granular in detail, deftly shaped into emotionally affecting pieces. rousay’s vocals and guitar take center stage on sentiment. Her intimate, diaristic lyrics contrast with her mechanical-inflected vocal effects, emphasizing a powerful desire for connection, a deep yearning and a lingering sense of separation.

The spare guitar playing and laconic tempo both drive the songs and exude a sense of resignation. Her delicate mastery of nuance draws on her explorative musical past that she, with sincerity and admiration, seamlessly interweaves into her adventurous textures and distinctive compositions. “I want to belong to the worlds and communities I look up to. Same as someone using a Fender guitar or dressing like Kurt Cobain. Emulate your heroes,” says rousay. The album balances the poetic soul of her influences with a documentarian heart, rousay capturing moments of her life while living alone in houses across the country, learning to play guitar, and reconnecting with pop music. Her innate
ability to conjure pure feeling from sound derives from her delightful embrace of pop forms, the vulnerability found in field recordings, minimalistic arrangements and innovative sound choices. sentiment is blissfully, achingly melancholic, and an undeniably sensual listening experience.

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claire rousay will be touring extensively in North America and Europe, with many planned festivals starting with Big Ears Festival.

claire rousay has collaborated on record with artists as diverse as Sightless Pit, Circuit des Yeux, Patrick Shiroshi, Alex Cunningham, Carol Genetti, Mabe FrattI and More Eaze.

sentiment features guest performances by Lala Lala, and Hand Habits, and was mastered by Andrew Weathers.

Additional PR provided by 9PR.

sentiment is available in CD and LP formats, with a limited number of Opaque Yellow LPs available. All LP versions include a digital download card.

“finding meaning among the mundane.” -The Guardian

“What a songwriter might convey in poetry, Rousay evokes with raw audio...viscerally vulnerable” -New York Times

“Her arrangements... serving as soundtracks for imaginary films, ..their cinematic expanses have the immediacy of status updates.” -Pitchfork

“Her music teaches us how to listen more deeply to moments monumental, silly and mundane in our own lives as well as others.” -NPR

TRACK LISTING:
1. 4pm
2. head
3. it could be anything
4. asking for it
5. iii
6. lover’s spit plays in the background
7. sycamore skylight
8. please 5 more minutes (feat. Lala Lala)
9. w sunset blvd
10. ily2 (feat. Hand Habits)