NOWHERE FLOWER - Peace Channel NOWHERE FLOWER

Nowhere Flower, Lila Jarzombek’s solo music project, returns with a highly anticipated third full-length, Peace Channel. This time around finding a befitting comrade in Soft Abuse, a label that has served as a welcoming home to over two decades worth of like-minded sonic travellers. Peace Channel offers a continuation and evolution of her homespun wanderings through the pursuit of minimal bedroom perfection. One key difference from past releases is the use of a Tascam 4-track as opposed to digital recording. The switch made for a freeing experience, with the tactile functionality of the machine creating more space for experimentation and discovery. Despite, or perhaps in spite of the learning curve of navigating the new gadget, which inevitably leads to problems, surprises, and many happy accidents along the way, the album comes across with the ease and flow of a seasoned practitioner.

With this in mind, Jarzombek described the album’s process as feeling more akin to making a painting or collage. A feeling that comes across distinctly upon first listen, and one that’s most fitting given her artistic practice. The warbling and fluttering of UK or NZ DIY-style Casiotone electronics are met with rambling guitar lines and slurred vocalizations. Tracks like “Behind Glass” and “Hallowed Out” have a somehow epic-yet-quiet catchiness. Back-to-back gems “Shared or Shattered” and “Formed By Water” display the layered and building approach to 4-track aided improvisation. One of the album’s defining moments is the inclusion of the winding acoustic piece “Ur Picture;” a mesmerizing ode to Mope Grooves’ Stevie Pohlman that brings to mind the timid genius of Joshua Burkett’s guitar-work while illustrating the difficulty of loss and grief.

From the Martian landscape of Mt. St. Helens to the devastated hellscape of the Gaza, Peace Channel offers a vivid picture of the complex modern reality through its inspirations. The album is easily placed as an important next in a long line of insightful DIY home recorders. A lineage who have always channeled a particular kind of peace in a world hellbent on destruction.”—Stefan Christensen