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It's an ambitious, perhaps even hypercompositional debut, one whose strange beauty demands attention.
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Glasser's glowing debut offers more melodic and emotional consummation than almost any of her peers can muster, poised in a genuinely transcendent golden balance between the stern, the spacious and the gaudily sparkling. A very precious Ring indeed.
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Under The RadarOct 26, 2010Upon first listen, Ring is entirely enjoyabe, but there's something about the second run through the loop that is transcendent. [Fall 2010, p.60]
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Oct 25, 2010Ring is odd and hypnotic, elaborate and approachable, dense and endearing. In the hands of any other musician, such aural acrobatics would end in failure. With Glasser, Cameron Mesirow not only makes the whole pastiche come together, but she makes it sound compelling, as well.
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There is little time wasted in this record's nine songs, and that Mesirow packs so many wonderful sounds into it without really complicating the chord progressions or basic melodies is perhaps the truest testament to her talent.
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Ring is electic, beat-heavy, and easy to like. A sneakily confident debut that should please listeners at almost every turn.
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Ring is an album that puts Cameron Mesirow on par with any of the emerging group of experimental female vocalists and if we didn't notice it before, there's a Glasser-shaped hole somewhere between Bat For Lashes' conceptual pop schizophrenia and Fever Ray's icy soundscapes and Cameron Mesirow is the missing puzzle piece. Debut albums rarely come more accomplished.
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Not only is Ring one of the few albums to feature the Nepalese stringed instrument the sarangi and a structure inspired by Homer's The Odyssey, it's also a fresh, creative debut that more than fulfills Glasser's potential.
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Jan 3, 2011A smart debut that's fun to get lost in.
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Ring may not be perfect--certain songs have a nondescript, meandering feel--but this kind of growth is undeniably exciting, and makes both Glasser and True Panther well worth watching.
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Oct 25, 2010Ring is more a cohesive, narrative song cycle than a simple collection of disparate pop songs.
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Ring was inspired by the symmetrical order outlined in Homer's poem Odyssey, the idea that any structure doesn't necessarily have to abide by a beginning, middle or end. Presumably this is why when succulent-lullaby Clamour completes the cycle you'll want to return to the start once more.
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It's tempting to deride the album as too similar at times, but the truth is that each of these songs is a perfectly sculpted and realised work of wonder revolving around a couple of central themes, which appears to be based primarily in the sounds of the Orient and the South American rainforest.
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Ring is an ambitious and impressive statement, and one that should help Glasser avoid that one-off attention to become a lasting artist. Its highlights are unique and mesmerizing, and the few lesser (and by lesser, I mean not flat-out fantastic) moments leave room for her to grow from here.
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It's also in those nature-obsessed lyrics, delivered in tones so dulcet and hypnotic that the inclination to don a robe and commune with Vespertine-era Bjork is overwhelming.
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UncutFeb 25, 2011With Ring, Mesirow concocts a fractured pop that accentuates the layers of electronic composition, though her voice is the guiding instrument. [Dec 2010, p.104]
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Dec 21, 2010Strangely, a distinct analogue warmth still shines through. Think Enya filtered through chillwave.
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If Mesirow let herself explore these weird sounds more fully instead of relying on the tried and true synthesized percussion, this album would reach another level of interest.
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An ultimately frustrating listen, not because of the quality of Ring per se, but because of the undoubted class of record it could have been if only it were a little more thought through. Still, there's certainly enough potential to justify Glasser's rising reputation as a worthy heir to a certain Icelandic lady's throne.
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The music of 2000 sounds pretty tantric by comparison. And anyone old enough to have been swept up in the ornate neo-psych of the mid- to late-90s now has a right to feel a little ripped off by their nostalgia. All of which is to suppose how Glasser's debut LP, Ring, sounds beautiful, complex, intricate, and so on, and yet fails to actualize her.
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May 15, 2020This review contains spoilers, click full review link to view.
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Oct 3, 2011
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Jan 31, 2011