The purpose built next generation interstellar Dawn Richard thread

I could have sworn someone's SN was 'The-Dream in the Witch House' a few years back, but can't find it.

Anyway this is amazing - is it being marketed as an actual Christmas EP?

was really looking fwd to it but i'm off the bus for this ep tbh, can't be doing with her without the structure

it's fine but after a year of "EP in name only" it's funny to get an EP that's really an EP

Haven't decided whether I think this is amazing or agree with rtc, so probably some of each.

Sonically there's something very late 90s female pop-electronica about this - Ray of Light in particular.

There's definitely now a clear trajectory whereby each release is getting progressively less rooted in mainstream R&B tactics (although the unclear status of this EP - i.e. is it considered a kind of one-off side project or not - makes this perhaps a not so reliable conclusion to leap to).

I'm interested in whether this is something Dawn has thought about in strategic commercial terms as well as simply in terms of following her muse: it's possible that it really does make more sense to go in this direction and carve out a respected niche than to compete in a playing field where these days many more entrants fail than succeed.

yeah this doesn't seem to be connected to GoldenHeart like "'86" (or "Pretty Wicked Things" i guess?) so i don't think it's anything more than throwing out some music to the fans. whatever hopes i had for her as a commercial force are pretty much gone now and even if this is getting a little further from my pedestrian mersh tastes already i'm still on board.

btw "'86" definitely gets mercy in the "sick of shit named after years from the 20th century" rant from earlier today

i know this'll sound like a dickish thing to say but i had wondered how healthy it would prove for an artist's rare interactions with the outside world to only be with very interested, very committed parties

then again dawn is hardly the first case study of this

i dunno, i have to wonder if being in the industry and a semi-public figure without attracting great fame nor great scorn is actually a bubble of stanbase positive reinforcement or if someone in her situation faces much more rejection and criticism in their daily life than a boldface name

think rejection would only take on a silent form, which leads to the same withdrawal anyway

signed, a long-term ilm poster

Sonically there's something very late 90s female pop-electronica about this - Ray of Light in particular.

― Tim F, Tuesday, 4 December 2012 22:07 (45 minutes ago) Bookmark

yeah even for being the most "structured" cut i found the drumnbass number far too close to the bone personally

plus being called 'miles' it should have been a 'children' homage WHAT WERE U THINKING DAWN

basically i can't help thinking that if i were hypothetically scornful of the whole dawn mystique this ep would be exactly my satirisation

one of those tracks uses the most famous breakbeat of all time rite?

heh well if anyone would know it's these boys

basically i can't help thinking that if i were hypothetically scornful of the whole dawn mystique this ep would be exactly my satirisation

It's hard to say this without coming off patronising but there's a sense with music in this vein (i.e. artist working in populist genre mode who starts to branch out in intriguing directions) that it works best when it doesn't sound self-aware. Obv. Dawn is and always has been very aware of what she's doing in this regard but Armor On didn't front-end that in the way that "Pretty Wicked Things" and Whiteout do.

Artists can still do great things after the eruption of their own mystical artistry into self-consciousness, but usually it's like somewhere a clock has started to tick.

let me just quickly add that you mean "self-consciousness" in a far more innocuous way than lex will duly seize upon

I need a link to a standard disclaimer on all my posts I think

even still i might reckon that's going too far, and perhaps even that the reverse is the case, that proximity (however miragelike) to commercial r&b lends a corrective awareness that is being lost here

it should be stressed there isnt a general defined black/white binary being made here between mersh and freeform, but it is the case here that dawn has gone all in on the gaseous hymnal this time

plus it's very true (and probably very likely) that this ep is a one-off

might be a one-off rather

in what sense if any is this a christmas release?

it's all white

even still i might reckon that's going too far, and perhaps even that the reverse is the case, that proximity (however miragelike) to commercial r&b lends a corrective awareness that is being lost here

Yeah that's also possibly true, though I think in Dawn's case it's really hard to work it out either way (i.e. whether and to what extent any component or quality is more deliberate/aware than any other) which is why I was making more of a general statement of how these things sometimes play out.

But if anything I suspect it's typically a bit of both, because it's not as if the choice is between catering to a recognised demographic or catering to an idea of artistry - in each case there are feedback loops where the people who most enthusiastically embrace what yr doing then articulate that (even if just passively by endorsing certain moves more than others) in a way that makes it convenient to give them what they want in a more intense/pure/deliberate way next time.

I agree though that it's more likely that Whiteout is a one-off rather than a clear harbinger of ever more dreamlike forays to come. And in part this is because I don't think the dialogue around Dawn is as clear-cut or unified as it is around any other artist tarred with the dreamy R&B brush.

bear in mind that if goldenheart had been released as planned in october i doubt whiteout would exist

in what sense if any is this a christmas release?

it's more of a winter-themed release though i guess bells are kinda christmassy?

the heavy mood suits that, anyway - this ep does feel very...insular in a snowed-in sense? a bit like kate bush's winter album?

Yeah that's a nice point of comparison.

It would indeed be great if this is the 50 Words For Snow to Goldenheart's Hounds of Love.

I'm interested in whether this is something Dawn has thought about in strategic commercial terms as well as simply in terms of following her muse: it's possible that it really does make more sense to go in this direction and carve out a respected niche than to compete in a playing field where these days many more entrants fail than succeed.

― Tim F, Tuesday, December 4, 2012 2:07 PM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

iirc she said in an interview that when A Tell-Tale Heart came out, she specifically watched for reaction to "Bulletproof" because she thought if her fans would embrace that song, they'd be ready to take the next step with her

aw man I love bulletproof

presumably Whiteout was recorded after Goldenheart, right?

just listened to the armor on EP

it's really fucking great

i'm super hungover from the public enemy show last nite and the whole thing is pretty dreamy (also this whiteout one too) and i fell asleep at my desk for a minute (in a good way)

saw freshalina dissing dawn on twitter :(

honestly thats a contrived :( i havent listened to any of her post-diddy stuff either. what's the best way to check it out

that's sort of right in her wheelhouse tho as an ex-reality star/gossip figure slumming it on her own

honestly thats a contrived :( i havent listened to any of her post-diddy stuff either. what's the best way to check it out

Armor On and Whiteout are on Spotify

revisiting some kate bush by way of displaced research

think it's a minor but important distinction that i'd rather goldenheart sound more like 'hounds of love (alternative)' or 'running up that hill (12" mix)' than the album versions

At least one tune should sound like Propaganda's "Dream Within A Dream".

part of the melody on on 'wynter' reminds me so much of the chorus of crystal castles' 'not in love'

a really great winter album

listening to it now after our exchange and, yeah, it's wintry enough to force the thermometer to drop a couple degrees in South Florida.

sorry: r|t|c.

havent really been drawn back into the ep since

i could still be wrong though, just this once

it took a few listens to click--and hey it snowed today--but now I think it's as good as Armor On and couldn't be more excited for the album

"And The Bells" and "Wynter" are as good as Armor On; "Whiteout" and "Miles" are not (though not bad).

Hmm, tbh, I'm at the point right now where all the songs gel into a single suite--they could sort into categories later. One thing in Whiteout's favor is that I'm sometimes not in the mood for "Bombs" and "Automatic" (though I like those songs a lot when I'm up for them), whereas Whiteout has so far felt too short each listen.

yeah, whiteout is def a set it and forget it listen

yeah, whiteout is def a set it and forget it listen

― 乒乓, Tuesday, 18 December 2012 3:13 AM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

is this really a point in its favour.

one of dawn's strengths is that she takes advantage of the album format, come on man tell tale heart was all about this

yeah but the songs themselves were very memorable which you could never say about "whiteout"; "miles" is memorable mainly because it sounds like it was beamed in from the wrong part of 1998.

wow, #rare that u are so wrong. do you also dislike Diddy/Brandy's even greater "Thought You Said"!?

To be clear it's not that I dislike "Whiteout" or "Miles" but Armor On is far and away my favourite album of the year and I don't think those two particular tunes match up to it, it's actually selling short the album to suggest otherwise IMO.

Like it's okay we can admit that not everything with based production from Dawn is going to be the best thing in the universe.

"Thought You Said" was great though.