On her 2019 solo debut,
Perfect Version
,
Julia Shapiro
went deeper into the rainy, contemplative songcraft that her band
Chastity Belt
often wrapped in sarcastic humor or volume. It was an introspective and sometimes pensive album, with some of
Shapiro
's most reflective songwriting. She left her longtime home of Seattle for Los Angeles in early 2020, moving just in time for the start of the COVID-19 global pandemic. Second solo album
Zorked
was recorded during
's first days in a new city, locked down and surrounded by uncertainty. There's a looming sense of dread that runs throughout
, but rather than retreating into even softer, more timid tones,
explores distortion and heavier arrangements on much of the album, mirroring the suffocating emotional state she and the world at large were living through in early 2020 with layers of doomy guitars and feedback wails. Album opener "Death (XIII)" is a great tone-setter, ironically starting with the words "This is the end" and sludgy instrumentation that sounds like a tape that's been slowed down to half speed. The song's chorus is still melodic, but the entire track is dressed in anxiety and confusion.
's woozy vocals and the bleak metallic overtones of the song are perfect for its sentiments of dread and disillusionment. The weary acoustic guitars of songs like "Wrong Time" and "Hellscape" speak to
's Pacific Northwestern roots, recalling the exhausted brilliance of
Elliott Smith
or a less-reverb-shrouded
Grouper
. The livelier rock songs also have hints of Pacific Northwestern influence, moving at the same steady trudge as
the Wipers
' toned-down 1993 album
Silver Sail
.
utilizes different approaches as she wrestles with complex feelings throughout the album, with noisy shoegaze tones on the slow-motion dream of "Pure Bliss" and fingerpicked acoustic guitars and synths on the moody and atmospheric "Hall of Mirrors." Multiple songs on
have lyrical references to illusions and feeling disconnected, but there's never any resolution to be found. An album all about uneasy emotions,
is harrowing and beautiful.
uses these songs to perfectly articulate the specific experience of waiting for a scary time to end while fighting the thought that things might just be awful from here on out. ~ Fred Thomas