Having joined the Fire Records roster as one-half of the Decisive Pink duo with 2023’s Ticket To Fame LP, erstwhile Dirty Projectors contributor Angel Deradoorian returns to the same outlet, to continue her solitudinous — albeit guest accomplice-assisted — creative voyaging.
For those who have been following her lateral art-pop manoeuvrings as far back as 2009’s tentative Mind Raft EP, the freshly-dispensed Ready For Heaven should feel like a logical and satisfying refinement of the pathways that started taking proper shape on 2015’s The Expanding Flower Planet solo debut album and which have evolved over subsequent releases, whilst still being packed with invigoratingly fresh ingenuity.
Although layered-up with some heady lyrical meditations on the inexorable march of technology and the course of humanity, it’s the musical matrices that give Ready For Heaven such a powerful grip. Propelled from the core by drums, percussion, bass and Deradoorian’s own tiered tones, with guitars, piano, synths and saxophone interposed for key twists and extra texture, this is a collection full of darkly luxuriant grooves and richly rendered atmospherics, showcasing shrewd skills for cross-fertilisation.
Although the philosophical directions may come from some fairly avant-garde angles, Ready For Heaven ultimately excels through the potency of its magnetic melodicism and rhythmical malleability, that makes it stand up as arguably the strongest and most accessible long-form Deradoorian sonic despatch to date.
-Adrian-
