Five albums that continue to inspire COMFORT CREATURE’s Auður
Comfort Creature [ Auður ] – Comfort Creature LP is available @ Apple Music.
by Auður
I have discovered that music with exactitude, ambiguity, subtext, negative space as a focal point, and austerity, moves me. The following five albums, which bear many of these qualities, have been a constant source of inspiration, particularly throughout the making of my last album, Comfort Creature.
Department of Eagles – In Ear Park
Department of Eagles have a very personal sound which is epitomized by this record. The lyrics are painterly, non-linear narratives. The sounds are varied: some antiqued and patinated, some clean and unadorned. The arrangements are colourful, with idiosyncratic instrumental pairings and dramatic changes in density. Despite all of this colour, the songs never feel cluttered or unfocused; there is always a strong sense of foreground and background.
Dirty Projectors – The Glad Fact
It’s hard for me to pick between the Dirty Projectors albums Morning Better Last, The Glad Fact and The Getty Address…so I’ve split the difference by picking the middle of the three. It feels unbound by convention; it sounds uncompromising and effortless. The production is deliciously dusty.
Deerhoof – Offend Maggie
This record blew my mind and continues to do so. Deerhoof have the uncanny ability to seesaw between looseness and precision, consonance and dissonance, discreteness and lushness. Garage rock at its most sophisticated.
Ólöf Arnalds – Innundir Skinni
Beautifully economical songwriting and arrangements. My favourite songs (Vinkonur, Svíf Birki, and Madrid) are all in Icelandic. Living away from home has made me treasure my mother tongue, and hearing it as part of this sublime music is bittersweet.
Crush Crush – Crush Crush
This record is both eerie and playful. While I like the songwriting a lot, I am even more moved by the exactitude of the performances and sparseness of the arrangements.
COMFORT CREATURE
All songs written by Auður Zoëga, except ‘Pyramid Room Exit’ and ‘Glow’ (Steven Socha/Auður Zoëga) ‘Better State’ (Georgia Harvey/Auður Zoëga)
Produced by Steven Socha and Auður Zoëga
Aaron Barnden: violin
Adam Casey: voice
Anita Quayle: cello
Auður Zoëga: voice, piano
Dan Richardson: drums
Genevieve Fry: harp
Georgia Harvey: voice
Lily Thornton: cello
Steven Socha: no-input mixing board, guitar, voice
Recorded by Comfort Creature and Adam Casey
Mixed by Adam Casey at The True Vine
Mastered by Adam Dempsey at Deluxe Mastering
Artwork by Ruby Fiedler
Video directed by Sabina Maselli / Hair and makeup by Leila Morrissey
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“Comfort Creature is an offering of hidden textures, vulnerability, and sensuality, nested delicately among an experimental indie-pop tapestry. The self-titled album is the brainchild of Icelandic-born Auður, whose upfront and intimate vocal stylings feature as a through-line across each track. Within each performance, Auður places the listener a mere breath’s distance from her quiet, feminine strength, guiding your passage in and out of the album’s multitude of colourful sonic spaces.”