With each of her post-
Sonic Youth projects,
Kim Gordon has explored different sides of her music. As one half of
Glitterbust, her collaboration with
Tomorrows Tulips' Alex Knost, she once again touches on elements from her past that feel genuine but not overly familiar. On the duo's self-titled debut,
Glitterbust takes a more insular, vulnerable approach than
Body/Head did on Coming Apart; as powerful as that album was, its mix of detachment and aggression felt more expected from
Gordon. By comparison,
Glitterbust feels more open-ended and blurred around the edges, whether on the hypnotic "The Highline," which is the closest the album comes to a climax, or on the tender, melancholy opener "Soft Landing." Though
Gordon trades bass for guitar in this project, some of the haunting quality of
Sonic Youth's earlier days remains: "Repetitive Differ" is a reminder that she is second to none at making spoken word sound as nuanced and thrilling as singing, while the song's woolly distortion and almost subliminal flow add to its delicate beauty. At times,
Glitterbust's droning guitar excursions recall the psychedelic drift of
Bardo Pond or
Valet, a similarity heightened by the thoughtful pauses in the duo's music. The album's longer pieces make the most of this ebb and flow; "Erotic Resume" uses its 12 minutes to float from radiant to tense and back again, while the harmonica and guitar solo that emerge halfway through the breathy 15-minute closing track "Nude Economics" feel like major events. An exploratory work,
Glitterbust nevertheless has an appealing serenity that makes it unique within
Gordon's discography. ~ Heather Phares