Retreating deep into the Canadian woods last spring, Calgary’s Women were on a mission: to marry the brittle urgency of ‘90s slacker pop with the misty morning zen of folk and post-rock. Recorded in a secluded log-cabin with avant-garde producer/visual artist Chad VanGaalen, the fruit of their sojourn is a fractured, woozy and occasionally quite beautiful debut. Throughout, there’s a satisfying tension between sloppy-twitchy Pavement guitars and hazy freak-folk-isms. On ‘Black Rice’, Women come on like Animal Collective’s tree hugging younger siblings; the frost rhimed ‘Sag Harbor Bridge’ may last only 90 seconds, but is rich with the agreeably dopey profundity that comes from spending too long chopping wood and staring at the stars.
Ed Power
Key Track: ‘Black Rice’