Rating: 8/10
Jealousy and Diamond is like a big, everlasting cookie that you relentlessly bite, and each time become fascinated with the amount of crumbs produced. Considering the record does not exceed the 50-minute mark, the Autistic Daughters very often sound like an algebra professor who ran out of blackboard space.
“Florence Crown, Last Replay”, for instance, lazily flows through some delay-bathed, instrumental bass lines. This track is just the tip of the iceberg for an effort that exudes persistence and an outstanding ability to keep you warmed and informed of the latest leaves falling from the trees outside.
There is little here that will not repay repeated and obsessive listening – and what about that? Do I hear a cover of Ray Davies’ “Rainy Day in June”? Yes, and it is a sparse number, held by stringed instrumentation and the soft, whispery vocals of Dean Roberts, accompanied – as in the whole record – by musicians holding an overloaded resume including collaborations with Jim O’Rourke, Fennesz and Otomo Yoshihidie (Werner Dafeldecker on bass) and drum work for Radian and Trapist (Martin Brandlmayr on percussion).
To be honest, Jealousy and Diamond does undeniably pose a huge challenge to careworn ears, but that is part of the process. Once the Autistic Daughters strike another severely resonant chord, the battle is won and all defiant souls almost beaten. Taken in full account, this album is an indigent grower, one that showcases vague soundscapes mirroring the stress points that make the listening gratifying.
“In Your Absence From the Street” is a gentle, arrhythmic hum of a track that accelerates guitar-glued particles in the last one minute and a half. The cohesiveness of the whole is far from lost with these off-the-map ventures; in fact, it becomes quite evolving and represents a small grain helping the silent combustion. The ill-tuned sketches of the guitar around the last few tracks work as amalgamated threads that allow beauty and ugliness to coexist.
Rough takes of most of the tracks here were recorded in Vienna in 2003, then infused with additional voices and instruments a handful of months later, and the record finally came to completion when it was mastered in early summer last year. Such a long process gave credence to a flattened notion that the most flavoured wine comes from years of maturing. Help this work grow in your ear and it will help you out through the night, when melodic - almost mute – film scores spring to mind.
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