"The music on Too Much World, the upcoming split cassette from Riggings and Dani Lee Pearce (Horse Complex Records, 6/31) is confrontational - and why shouldn't it be? Both of these artists are trans women from places you could call America's "heartland", places where they wake up each day confronted by a culture that on the mild end wants them silent and at its worst wants them dead. No artist worth their salt could live this condition without some pushback - like Nina Simone said, "an artist's duty is to reflect the times'', and our times have placed a violent crosshairs on what should be the peaceful existence of trans folks.
The album begins with a one-two punch of heavy, maximalist art pop - each song pushes the ten minute mark and features lush, experimental production. Dani Lee Pearce's "You Are The Voices" calls out those who would try to define others out of frameworks of hate and ignorance, and despairs at how enduring those definitions can feel personally, no matter how hard you try to fight them; how serious of a violation it is to be told what you are by uncaring profiteers or off-hand clown comics, as David Lynch would call them. She works here in the mode of Sparks, big joyful sounding choruses with deeply layered vocals belying the righteous anger and bitter sorrow that underlie the song.
Riggings' "SOUTHERNLOSS" sounds like an 80's Bob Dylan song sped up and cut with krautrock beats and guitar/keyboard freak-outs, which matches its 21st century southern gothic vibe, a parade of humid tragedy that sears away any romanticism one might have about "dixie" - the refrain "all I need from you right now is some garbage about open roads" drives home that the concepts of freedom we are sold are lies built on death, as the song ascends into a heavy, noisy, detuned crescendo, leaving you only the motorik drums to hang on to.
The split goes out quieter, as if the rage that opened it couldn't sustain itself forever and had to give way to thoughtful resignation. Rigging's heartbreaking bedroom indie ballad "Tell Me Why It Has To Break" presents a child's increduluos view of the way the world works, a simple question that can still fuck us up as adults - why does it have to be this way, why does everything have to be so cruel, over shuffling percussion and interwoven keyboard lines.
Dani Lee Pierce hits the most avant-garde note on the album with the closing track "What Doesn't Kill You Will Make Lethal a Piss in the Wind", an ambient soundscape over which she recites a series of DMs about the future between her and a dear friend in the UK - the crippling fear and glimmers of hope that you experience when you think about what comes next from the 2020's. It's an appropriate end to an album that feels so much like it is at war with right now, reminding us that there is a future, and that there might be something good about it, however horrible it may be trying to get there, and that loving other people is the bridge to it.
-J Moss, Portland, OR 6/19/2023"
credits
released June 30, 2023
Track One and Four written, recorded, and performed by Dani Lee Pearce
Track Two and Three written, recorded, and performed by Alex Riggs
Mastered by Alex Riggs
Artwork and layout by Dani Lee Pearce
When my CD copy arrived in the mail I was actually already listening to the digital version for maybe the 3rd time. The whole thing is just so beautiful and triumphant sounding the entire way through. It has the exact energy I need right now in my life. I'll have to add a favorite track later, its so hard to choose. Thank you Al for the music. janieryan
