Parallelograms

Parallelograms

Like Nick Drake, Vashti Bunyan or Chris Bell, the music of Linda Perhacs wasn’t truly realized upon its release. After 1970’s Parallelograms failed to garner any attention, Perhacs opted for a career as a dental technician while the slow ripples of her psychedelic folk masterpiece manifested into cult worship. Over 30 years later Perhacs was rediscovered — her songs were sampled by Daft Punk and Aesop Rock and she was hired to sing on Devendra Banhart’s Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon. The 2010 reissue of Parallelograms is a glorious treatment, replete with eight bonus tracks and a greatly improved fidelity. “Chimacum Rain” opens with subtle splendor as Perhacs’ hushed harmonies are layered delicately over acoustic arpeggios. “Dolphin” displays the astute control of her falsetto trill, but the album’s magic really kicks in on the breathtaking title-track where her melodies are suspended in a space of atonality before kaleidoscopic swirls of sound envelop the tune in a galaxy of ambience birthed by tape manipulations and early rendered electronic effects.

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