Monday, October 11, 2021

Album Review: Samara Lubelski - Flicker at the Station

I'm taking a step back to revisit an album from 2018 tonight: Samara Lubelski's Flicker at the StationSamara is a multi-instrumentalist hailing from Soho who started her career as a violinist, but who quickly transitioned to guitar, bass, and cello- and in the process became a go-to studio musician for the likes of Thurston Moore, the Fiery Furnaces, and Body/Head’s Bill Nace, among others. Since her 1997 solo debut, In the Valley, Lubelski has become known for her prolific output as much as her skills as a musician. Flicker at the Station is her ninth LP, seeing her stick mostly to guitar and vocals to craft intricately layered, jangly, and somewhat avant-garde baroque pop with a whimsically nostalgic feel. The album was recorded in the German countryside, backed by her folk-pop pals and frequent collaborators, the Metabolismus. Flicker at the Station feels like Stephen Steinbrink without the distended melodies, Joshua Abrams & Natural Information Society but with more exaggerated grooves, a softer breathing and more patiently indulgent transfiguration of Hall of Fame, and a more cautiously constrained, but still captivating, reconstitution of Stereolab. Whatever other comparisons I could strain from the font of my mind, the bare facts will remain the same, Flicker at the Station is simply lovely. 

Buy Flicker at the Station from Drawing Room Records.