Jessica Rylan, Interior Designs cd

Jessica Rylan, Interior Designs cd
Important Records, 2007

On Interior Designs, sound-artist Jessica Rylan presents her first published instrumental works for performance on synthesizer, or as I hear it, four acutely personal and distinctly decorated pieces of charming, introverted flower electronics. Important's press release describes these pieces as more "classical in nature than her work as Can't", but this statement is pretty damned superficial, seeing as whether she's performing under her own name, or as her noisier alter-ego Can't, Rylan's work as a composer and performer is instantly recognizable. The only power-electronics performer whose music I would whole-heartedly describe as delicate and pleasant, Rylan is an artist whose intimate and studied approach to home-made electronic noise and circuit-bent beauty generates warmth within a genre often balked at as cold, grating, and annoying. Instead, her carefully considered, though freely improvised, transitions in tonal depth, volume, colour, and feedback, generates an inviting aural space ruled by a highly personal sense of wonder and whimsy. Although Jessica Rylan's work on Interior Designs might be more self-conciously composed than some of her various cassette and cd-r releases, the clean production and fidelity of the album is what really sets this apart from her other releases. It's not the best production job on an album I've ever heard, but it's fidelity is considerably clearer than a cassette, and that's good enough for me! The music on this release ranges from flighty synthesizer scramble ("Extraordinary"), rumbling tape detritus ("Timeless"), digital bird calls ("Phantasia"), and even some acoustic twang on the title track finale. All in all, this is a sweet, high-quality release that Can't fans should eat up in an instant, and a perfectly enjoyable introduction to the work of this unique and celebrated sound-artist.