Spectreview: ings – Lullaby Rock

-LIGHT SLATE BLUE-

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“So what if I have got more love
Than I know what to do with?”

Something terrible has come about, hasn’t it? If we’re not already wholehearted cynics, we still hold rotted parts within ourselves that default to mistrust, that see the outside world through the dry eyes of judgement and paranoia. Those who have realized what’s happening to us are starting to fight the good fight, to course-correct what the popularization of the Internet has done to our collective attitude – an attitude that two decades of apathetic slacker-rock and grungy nihilism and druggy bedroom pop idealism hasn’t helped.

It will take a lot of work (detachment is still, and will always be, cooler), but albums like Lullaby Rock, the debut album from Seattle band ings (aka Inge Chiles), make a better case than almost anything released this year, so effective it is at conveying unguarded, sober positivity. Now more than ever, albums require both the furnishing of a wavelength and an entryway for the audience to ride that wave. Lullaby Rock does this with incredible exactingness in its third track, “Best Friend Meditation,” which kills the music and guides the listener in contemplating a close personal friendship. And right there, in the depth of silence, the album switches from mildly-intriguing objectivity to riveting subjectivity. The rest of the record moves through several iterations of soft, Feist-like folk-pop, from “Amelia’s” dedicative tributaries to the clap-along head-shake of “Pick Yourself Up” to the gentle disillusionment of “Kiss Your Heroes.” The record remains consistently absorbing, with tasteful touches of strings and deep toms helping to shirk any sense of sonic monotony. Throughout, Chiles knows to give herself enough space for her hushed vocals to carry their own dynamic range. From barely-audible whispers to dramatic swoops and pitch-perfect harmonies, Chiles’s voice is as vital to her record’s power as its instrumental diversity.

Surprisingly robust and quietly profound, Lullaby Rock operates best as a panacea for an unceasing onslaught of negativity that’s all too easy to succumb to. In that regard, it should also be considered a triumphant true debut for a long-standing member of Seattle’s underground.

Recommended for open-minded pessimists.