Thalia Zedek: Been Here And Gone

Many acts make downbeat music about dark subject matter, but most throw in counterbalances, whether by submerging pop hooks or orchestrating arrangements that radiate accessible warmth and beauty. Consequently, a lot of depressing music isn't really depressing at all; just slow, or melancholy, or graceful. Not that all three adjectives don't apply to former Come, Live Skull, and Uzi singer Thalia Zedek's music, but there's little denying its almost oppressively depressive effect. Been Here And Gone, the Bostonian's solo debut, dresses her songs in abundant viola, piano, and slide guitar, but the accouterments are in service of meaty, bone-chilling dirges in the spirit of Nick Cave. The words "you are going to hell" open "Strong," and Been Here And Gone doesn't get much more upbeat than that. But the album, like Zedek's past work, is an intoxicating acquired taste, finding wracked beauty in Gothic misery and her ever-wearier croak of a voice. Zedek even out-bleaks Leonard Cohen on her cover of Cohen's "Dance Me To The End Of Love," though she smartly lets the seven-minute track build to a Dirty Three-esque cataclysm. Challenging and rewarding in equal measure, Been Here And Gone resonates with guts, passion, and some of Zedek's most powerful musical backing to date—particularly on the jaw-dropping instrumental "10th Lament." The result inspires an emotion somewhere between awe and fear.