Spectreview: Lena Raine – Oneknowing

-FUCHSIA PINK-

Joni Mitchell’s stance on fame being “a glamorous misunderstanding” holds especially true in the modern era, when more people than ever yearn to be put on the kinds of miasmatic pedestals that plague the artists that stand atop them. For someone (and that would be the vast majority of us) who’s never endured the kind of resounding success Lena Raine experienced in the wake of her soundtrack to 2018’s indie game phenomenon Celeste, it’s hard to comprehend how that process affects your wellness. Raine’s debut standalone album, Oneknowing, is resultantly part panacea and part artistic showcase, and on both fronts the album succeeds, finding a solid balance between emotionally calming and mentally stimulating.

Video game soundtracks continue to be an overarching influence, but her take on ambient here also involves a focus on 80’s-era Japanese environmental new age, which imparts a naturalistic quality especially on the album’s intentionally soothing front half. As with many great artists working in ambience, Raine smartly bakes little details into her songs that display her unique touch and give dimension to the otherwise light proceedings. The inclusion of opener “Nightmare” conveys an undercurrent of dread that sticks with the listener, while the emergent Yasunori Mitsuda-esque bass line on the anxious “Insomnia” subtly shifts the mood from noir-like to melancholy. Two tracks contain modulated synth lines pulled straight from Boards of Canada’s first album, but they present themselves in opposite ways, finding a tranquility in “A Chance to Rest” while doubling down on a sense of numb unease in “Momodani.” Raine’s decision to process her vocals so as to be childlike is also inspired, lending a nostalgia that’s simultaneously comforting and bittersweet, evocative of a past that’s unable to be reclaimed. Crucially, Raine doesn’t let decisions like these overtake the pure pathos of her arrangements: tracks like “Wake Up”, with its yearning violin line, are the real showstoppers here. Oneknowing works as both a surface-level salve and a complex portrayal of self-care, and it’s further proof of Raine’s considerable compositional talent.

Recommended while gazing at the city out the bus window.