April 8, 2022
Geographic North
Forever an associate of the American avant-garde, Taralie Peterson has been baring her soul on outward-leaning recordings as a solo artist (as Louise Bock and Tar Pet) and with a dazzling array of collaborators (most notably and fruitfully with Ka Baird as Spires That in The Sunset Rise). The Madison, WI based musician now steps out as Tekla Peterson with Heart Press, a garishly gripping set of songs that simmer in a stew of heartbreak and survival. Put simply in Peterson's own words: "This music came from the fiery flames of pain from the ending of my 20 year relationship." Matching these previously uncharted emotional areas are Peterson's experiments with pop structures paired with fruitfully barren arrangements and vivid, pseudo-string textures. No polished ennui or overly gory details, just transcendent beauty and universal emotion. The set opens with "Soda Pop Jam," an eerily enchanted earworm that writhes in a sultry bed of melody and melancholy. "Swarm of Gnats" heightens the morbid musicality that drips onto a desolate dance floor littered with emotional detritus. "Cancel Out Effect" offers a scruffy, operatic opus that traipses through a litany of confessions and castigations. Casting things in an entirely different light, "Between a Rock" and closer "Count Out Shadows" bring a neon-lit, neo noir of nonchalance that pair perfectly in a downstream drift of sullen musings. "WWIB" is a cacophony of catharsis, a fever dream fugue that cycles into an infinite blur. Heart Press presents the ultimate breakup album that devastates everything in its wake, but Peterson finds true beauty in the emotional valleys and eventual peaks with poise and prowess.