Now on their third album, the perpetually mousey duo Still Corners continue their exploration of all things shadowy and seductive. Strange Pleasures is a haunting record that like previous efforts has a serious lack of urgency or frenetic pace about it. Rather, this is a record layered with ambient textures, disengaged vocals and a barely there or barely moving kind of approach. It's almost as if Still Corners are spirits who were sent back to haunt our dreams and lives with their beautiful sounds.
Strange Pleasures is gauzy, ethereal, and otherworldly. It's about as close to the Cocteau Twins as you can get without actually being them; in fact, if Robin Guthrie used synths instead of guitars Still Corners could very well be the Cocteaus. As if to prove the point Strange Pleasures washes over you in a wave of crystalline opulence that will leave you in awe. It's truly gorgeous stuff that's wispy, breezy, stirring, and haunting. Strange Pleasures is sound of stillness and shadows and it's as if the band follows you around whispering their songs into your ears. A more atmospheric, post shoegazing, and ghostlike band you are unlikely to find and a more fragile beauty than Strange Pleasures is just as unlikely to be heard.
This is a brilliant album in an ambient, chill out, post shoegazing, chillwave, ice queen kind of way. It's the soundtrack of The Sandman and the dreams you have at night. This is the sound of another time and another place outside of the realms of human comprehension and Still Corners are only too kind to allow us to be part of it. Strange Pleasures is a beautiful record that is easily one of my favorites this year and whenever I fall asleep I find I'm lost in Still Corners.
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