White Poppy
Natural Phenomena (Not Not Fun)
Imagine a dance party with music provided by the seven trumpets of the apocalypse, played by members of The Durutti Column and Robert Smith. If you follow, you’ll understand the greatness that is White Poppy’s latest, Natural Phenomena, a dreamy watercolour pop record that is its most crystalline-envisioned release to date.
The one-woman show behind White Poppy is Vancouver based visual artist and musician Crystal Dorval. Her continuous ability to find common ground in both earthly rhythms and ethereal vocals are exercised throughout the album, particularly on its opener “Confusion”. It opens with a thick, meaty synthesizer over a joyful beat, creating a dystopian celebration song. “Wild Mind” follows with rollicking, primal drums and barely discernible, layered vocals that float above the music like a softened banshee. In “Mermaids”, Dorval creates a hypnotic, aquatic soundscape that is at once familiar (as most music with ‘80s inspired synthesizers is), but completely original.
While the phenomenon of dream pop may wane and wax like the moon, Dorval has tapped more into the quintessence of the genre. Her work is transcendent and mystical, but firmly rooted in the real world.
Rating: ★★★★ (out of five)
