Aug 28

Aug 28 Album Review: Deradoorian - The Expanding Flower Planet

The first sound on Deradoorian's The Expanding Flower Planet is her voice, bubbling up out of quiet and bringing with it a whole vibrant world with it. It's a voice that should immediately excite fans of art-rock, not only for its unique beauty but also for its familiarity; it harks back to The Dirty Projectors' Bitte Orca, one of recent years' most creative and rewarding listens, and on which Angel Deradoorian played a starring role. Hearing that voice again, with its rich, vivacious and beguiling qualities, instantly puts you in the frame of mind to prepare you for an engrossing listen.

'A Beautiful Woman' opens the album with a fizzing bassline, and propulsive swinging harmonies that in combination bring to life the titular woman's magnetic gait as she walks across your mind. This aural animation also features in 'Komodo', where a charmingly plodding bassline and tickling percussion describes the stalking of the komodo dragon, while Deradoorian warningly chants "komodo coming through, run for your life," before the song takes off on an operatic duet with guest vocalist Niki Randa. 'A Violet Mind' gently guides you through a cavern of synth, while a series of different vocal tracks that seem to echo at you out of every crevice. 'Ouneya' finds glowing synths soothingly cascading down each channel while Deradoorian's pitch-shifted voice in makes mesmeric guttural melodies, in a moment that is reminiscent of Fever Ray.

The sheer playfulness in the way the songs are structured and produced helps to bring the imagery to life. There is an air of spirituality about the whole album, which adds intrigue to the songs and is fuelled by the organic sounds of the album - most effectively and prominently Deradoorian's voice. In 'Your Creator' a low-level drone of her ethereal voice remains constant throughout, bringing an air of divinity to this song which implores you to look inwards and "build a circle of creation." The album ends with 'Grow', which repeats the titular word hypnotically and alluringly, encouraging you to feel at one with your surroundings, and expand your mind in conjunction with the world around you.

Although Angel Deradoorian has been something of a background figure in her stints in The Dirty Projectors and Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks, she's always had aspirations of creating her own music. The process took much longer than she expected when she set out, four years ago, but as this was her first time having autonomy over a project she found she learned so much along the way, and constantly wanted to expand her music with her new knowledge and capabilities. The resulting album is testament to this, as the songs are each densely packed musically, but so taught and unpredictable that it's clear that they are the vision of a single creative mind. Angel Deradoorian's mind is vibrant and open, and on The Expanding Flower Planet she's inviting you for a visit.