Every time I’ve come across Tzara’s music it has left me delightfully disturbed. This album is no exception. Inspired by Salvador Dali’s description of hypnagogia (the hallucinatory state between waking and sleep – a state Tara Boraine (aka Tzara) finds herself in often) The Slumber With The Key paints a glorious audial dreamscape.
The tracks are essentially musical translations of her intense relationship with reality, stemming from illusionary phenomena throughout her life – think hypnagogic hallucinations, sleep paralysis and a generally active imagination. Which lends to great creativity, I might add.
The music itself is far less disturbing as the inspiration behind it. Opener “Butterfly Paradox” is a dreamy indie lo-fi track. This time around she favours an ethereal sound most evident in the spinning synth and pillowy beats of “Luck Is the Residue of a Life Designed” and “Melting”.
There’s a good chunk in the middle where she gets weird though, and that’s just what we’ve been waiting for. “Flow” charts a creepy course through breathy vocals and incoherent melody, while “Under The Milk Wood Interlude” is a three-minute palate cleanser of alien poetry.
The album is gentle and probing, bizarre and beautifully produced. Tzara has delivered one of her most impressive releases to date and it’s steeped in so much nuance it’ll take a number of listens to unravel.
