Phases & Stages

Aimee Bobruk

Aimee Bobruk demonstrates a clear self-awareness, and she lays it out (phonetically, even) with 12 confessionals on /ba.'brook/. Employing producer and engineer Brian Beattie (Daniel Johnston, Bill Callahan, Roky Erickson), her Kickstarter campaign delivers the rest. The local's sophomore LP comes marked by a quiet sadness, hopeful but a little distrusting and worn. Opener "A Day in the Life" makes for a playful start, jangling and looping and finished off with mouth-made horns. "Two of a Kind" begins subtly before folding into a distorted synth that recalls a warped record, the chorus breaking the pleasant lull of Bobruk's memorably quavering alto. The album's revisionary folk keeps things simple, but it's the aural specters of /ba.'brook/ that linger and keep you thinking about it.