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Oct 25, 2013 Web Exclusive By Susannah Young

Lest you forget about Cameron Mesirow’s (aka Glasser) ability to build—and affinity for manipulating—glittery self-contained sonic environments that both reflect and project her point of view, the first four tracks on Interiors are titled “Shape,” “Design,” “Landscape,” and “Forge.” A little on-the-nose, but fitting, given that more than the work of many “electronic” artists, Mesirow’s compositions sound as though they’re taking shape for the first time as you listen to them. Not because they come across as haphazard or dashed-off, but because there’s an organic and surprising quality to her songs—a welcome attribute in a genre that can all too often feel sterile, cold, inhuman.

And it takes a gentle touch to make a series of songs about social anxieties sound warm. Even though the notions of displacement and barriers erecting themselves between people emerge time and again (“There’s nothing here but walls” on “Landscape,” celestial distances and fierce rivers keeping the protagonist from her family on “Divide”), there’s a lot about Interiors that feels inclusive and optimistic. Glasser’s 2010 debut Ring worked within that dichotomy, too, but Interiors has a buoyancy and lightness that some of Ring‘s best tracks lacked (though here I note that I’m thinking mainly of the stellar but sort of bleak “Apply”). And a lot of that has to do with the ample space in these songs, which helps balance the intricacy of the arrangements by giving each melody and each instrument plenty of room to rattle around.

For an album called Interiors, Mesirow devotes a lot of time to exploring the ways people connect with one another and contemplating what lies beyond her own world—by seeking literal and figurative ways out of wherever she is (“Forge”), by exploring multiple ways to size up a single situation (“Window i,” “Window ii,” “Window iii”). For her, the notion of the Interior isn’t necessarily about withdrawing and looking inward; it’s about using your talents to build a space that not only reflects you, but also provides a prism through which you can view and comment on the outside world. (www.glassermusic.com)

Author rating: 7.5/10