The alt-folk sensibility of @’s 4AD debut is a seductive, obliquely sticky one. The dark spiderings of “Bird” hit first, that minor circling riffery embroidering the song’s lyrical lance. A spiralling energy of unresolved chemtrails inkily adrift in an eerie illumination.-
A spooky union dissipates into the softer “Love In The Dark” as a warm duet of voices is lightly flanked in a comforting strum, its layered accents snipping at the fragmented thoughts, sketched suggestion caught on riffed thermals. “You have a mind like a winding road”, go the lyrics as the composition services the words like falling leaves trembling or soaring elatedly. A playful impressionistic that itches your senses with refreshed familiarity, as the pared-down accompaniment on “I’m Not In Pain” suddenly slams a hidden adrenaline rush that bulbs Kristin Hersh-like comparisons as it runs out of the door in colourful celebration.
The harmonic unravelling is superb throughout, that subtle sense of psychedelia in the transitory weave of word and melody, mildly bristled by razoring frets on the Shelleyan Orphan-infused aesthetic of “I Know You Are” or the squawking parrot on the bucolic “Punish My Mind”. Each song holding a unique microcosm you are compelled to unpick; some subtly effect-clouded, others leaking hints of the natural environment — a lushly rewarding experience that just keeps giving, hourglasses your consciousness with timeless grace.
“Judgement Farmer” possessing a Larkin Grimm-like writhing, sonically slipping on dragonfly wings and splashy percussives; then there’s the summery wonderosa of the title track “Autosmile” that’s got to be one of the best sonic uplifts / natural evolves I’ve taken in all year. Honestly, this collection of songs taps into something special, showing the acoustic guitar / singer songwriter schtick has more to offer than certain stadium-fillers would have you believe.
-Michael Rodham-Heaps-
