Katie von Schleicher made such evocative and intelligent use of the lo-fi limitations of recording on a four-track cassette machine on 2016's Bleaksploitation and 2017's
Shitty Hits that it was tempting to wonder if she could make her music work without it. It turns out she can; though 2020's
Consummation may be a long way from glossy and still makes clever use of murk, the production and audio is significantly cleaner than what she delivered on her two breakthrough releases, and it expands her stylistic horizons as it eases up on the inward-focused gloom in favor of something more pointed and engaged with the world around her.
Von Schleicher steps up her game as a vocalist on
Consummation; the breathy force and ambitious sweep of her phrasing and her multiple overdubbed harmonies suggest this is what
Kate Bush could have sounded like had she been an Brooklyn indie rocker born in the 1990s.
Von Schleicher also focuses on personal issues that will resonate with the larger culture at the same time. Informed in part by Rebecca Solnit's book A Field Guide to Getting Lost and its analysis of
Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo from the perspective of the stalked woman rather than the obsessed man, the fine line between love and abuse is a frequent undercurrent in
von Schleicher's lyrics, and this album sounds less like a document of depression than an analysis of a society that breeds the fear that can evolve into depression. If that sounds pretentious, it isn't in practice; once again,
von Schleicher has offered us a look inside herself, and these songs are just as compelling and relatable as they look at a bigger picture. And
von Schleicher's jerry-rigged version of indie pop is all the grander here, still melodic while aiming for a more majestic effect and finding it within its echoes and confident instrumentation.
Shitty Hits was the sort of album that was destined to be a cult favorite while also leaving questions about where else the artist could next take their talent and vision.
Consummation is a bold step forward and confirmation that
Katie von Schleicher has a great deal to offer and should be creating satisfying music for a long time to come. ~ Mark Deming