Sylvan Esso

Description

Recorded in a small bedroom studio in Durham, North Carolina, the self-titled debut album by Amelia Meath and Nick Sanborn as Sylvan Esso arrived in 2014 at the intersection of pop and experimental. Even now, years later, the record remains an urgent and fitting introduction to a push-and-pull effect that continues to fuel the duo's sound – a well-crafted head that draws you onto the dance floor. A blend of analog and digital, Nick and Amelia were two unexpected pieces of a puzzle fitting together with a singular ease, producing a ten-track album that is both minimalist and vibrant, with dark ripples spreading beneath the synthetic surface and the crystalline quality of Meath's voice. Before all the international tours, festival headlining, and critical acclaim, Sylvan Esso was just a shot in the dark, but the musical chemistry immediately clicked. The original album biography evoked a collection of vivid addictions made of suffering and love, darkness and deliverance arriving as a necessary pop balm. Today, even as the group continues to evolve and become amorphous, there is still this discussion about what pop can be at its core. This album is just the beginning of that conversation captured on tape.