Review by Zoe Biggs
Do you even know you’re in a haze before you begin to emerge from it? That slight glimmer of clarity as the edges start to refocus.
It has been a tumultuous time for Silvi Wersing, and her relocation to Germany from the UK has meant that Chorusgirl has transformed back into a solo project. But, no fear here, as Chorusgirl’s third album, ‘Colapso Calypso’ sees her still on top dream pop form.
We have been treated to three singles from the album already. The first of which, ‘Don’t Go Back to ‘89’ considers a big ‘what if’ question – what if you could go back in time to save a loved one. Well, what if? Would you? Over shimmering, ethereal layers of guitars and breaks of spoken word, we discover the trap – what if you have to keep returning to try and save them on a continuous loop, because despite the fact they cannot be saved, you equally cannot bring yourself to stop trying.
The video for ‘Heart of Glue’ guides us through fields and dizzying blue skyscapes of the countryside where Wersing grew up, whilst the music lulls and eases its way into your heart. A relaxed sunset, or sunrise if you prefer, of the mind. It could deceive for being ‘simple’, until the last line hits; ‘I tried very hard to capture and cultivate the art of mending this fracture.’ Take pause. There’s the crisis and then the recovery.
‘Minimum Descent Altitude’ provides a swaggering, lurking and dark instrumental break; a snippet of something which I would have loved to have been longer in duration. ‘Pink Elephants’ and ‘Look At Everything, Understand Nothing’ bring similar vibes, buzzsaw beginnings similar to Crocodiles, Trailer Trash Tracys and Dum Dum Girls giving way to haunting vocals.
Inspired by ‘Mulholland Drive’, and by association ‘Sunset Boulevard’, third single, ‘In The Business Of Dreams’ swirls into life, bright eyed and upbeat, trying to help us untangle a dream from a nightmare; sometimes an impossibility in the music and film industry.
With Colapso Calypso, Chorusgirl pose many questions. It is a reflective, lushly layered nostalgic joy of an album.
Colapso Calypso is out on the ever fab Reckless Yes Records on 14 October 2022.
Links:
• Facebook – https://www.facebook.com.chorusgrrrl
• Twitter – https://twitter.com/chorusgrrrl
• Instagram – http://www.instagram.com/chorusgrrrl
• Website – http://www.chorusgirl.co.uk
• Spotify – https://open.spotify.com/artist/5ibCe0T2NP3AstFizzO4ff?si=rw9
• Bandcamp – https://chorusgirl.bandcamp.com/
