Blonde Redhead, made up of Kazu Makino and Italian twin brothers Amedeo and Simone Pace, releases their new album, Sit Down For Dinner, their first studio album in eight years. The album’s title carries a special meaning for the Pace brothers, for whom dinner together is non-negotiable, a practice the entire band has adopted as a sacred ritual.
Written and recorded over five years in New York City, upstate New York, Milan, and Tuscany, Sit Down For Dinner features deliciously restrained melodies, subtle vocal harmonies, and gentle, seductive rhythms.
Comprising 11 tracks, Sit Down For Dinner begins with “Snowman,” rolling out on a syncopated rhythm topped by jangly-lite guitars and dreamy, sensitive vocals backed by soft, radiant harmonies, giving the tune a distant feel, as if migrating between here and there in a trembling landscape.
Highlights include “Kiss Her Kiss Her,” with the delicate, breathy vocals of Makino imbuing the luminous dream-pop surfaces of the song with fragile timbres. Gleaming and chiming with shiny inflexions, the tune shimmers gracefully and elegantly.
A personal favourite because of its alluring rhythmic drift, “Not for Me” travels on low-slung, shiny guitars that glide and wander on undulating surfaces, giving the harmonics the feeling of lusciously diluted intensity.
Placed in the middle of the album, the two title tracks, “Part 1” and “Part 2,” inspired by Joan Didion’s The Year of Magical Thinking, form a kind of fulcrum. “Part 1” rides a simple metronomic beat as Makino’s translucent voice projects feathery tones. Whereas “Part 2” showcases echoing vocals atop swirling, dreamy layers of harmonics.
Talking about the pair of songs, Makino shares, “‘ Sit Down For Dinner’ is written like a journal, and I suppose it’s confessional. ‘Part 1’ starts with me living on a remote island and contemplating what to do. ‘Part 2’ is me writing to my mother and father alongside inspiration from Ms. Didion’s writing. It touches on death, destiny, and how we move through our lives without knowing how and when the end will come (with no pity). I’m excited by how I put down my rather terrifying thoughts on top of “uplifting” music. You would never guess what I’m singing about.”
For some reason, “If” suggests a stripped-down, ethereal version of Peter Gabriel’s “Sledgehammer,” probably because of its oblique rhythm. It’s a gorgeously evocative song, structured on articulate, suffusing colours. “Via Savona” ties the album off beautifully, merging indulgent, resplendent floating hues with Makino’s sighing expressions. Varnished in opulent veneers of dream-pop, Sit Down For Dinner creates a milieu of warm richness, drenched in complex emotions.
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