2021 in Review: Water From Your Eyes Structure

Structure was released in August 2021 on Wharf Cat Records.

Water From Your Eyes burst onto my radar over the summer of 2021 like a lot of new releases do: I lug a bunch of downloaded records with me out on one of my extended weekend walks. So there I was, bebopping and scatting along when I pull the experimental duo's fifth record (and first on Wharf Cat), Structure, up from the queue. 

And it starts innocently enough. The lead cut, "When You're Around," begins and you quickly get this peppy late 60s/early 70s vibe. It is like a song from a montage moment in a film from the era. Think "Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head," B.J. Thomas' song that appeared in one of those moments in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Now, that was a song that -- to me -- was typical of the period in which the movie was produced but not necessarily the era it was depicting. In other words, there was a disjunction. 

And I don't choose that song at random (even if I don't really think When You're Around is at all like Raindrops; just of songs of its ilk). I found it an effective starting point for the record (and super poppy paired with my walk¹) as I initially listened to it. But it in no way prepares you for what follows.

When You're Around fades and then silence for a few moments that are broken by three knocks. And then a brief silence again. The pattern continues, only with two knocks succeeded by a discordant note in the same sequence. That is the turning point. Because then, after a couple of seconds of pause, the bottom drops out. A loud, fuzzy synth blasts the door open and the record immediately takes a left turn into something completely different on "My Love's" and beyond. 

I mean, I love that feint, especially as a first encounter with the group. Here are the expectations for this album and our music. Psych! In some ways, it lures you even more into how Water From Your Eyes bends convention in crafting their music. 

There are a pair of spoken word tracks, so Structure really is just six proper songs in a little more than half an hour. But the duo of Rachel Brown and Nate Amos pack so much into that.""Quotations"," the album's closer, seemingly made a lot of year-end lists of top songs, but "My Love's" is such a genuine gem of synth pop noise. It pulsates with that same fuzzy blast echoing throughout, often in a call and response of sorts with the Brown's vocals. But even those give way to a staticky break in the transmission two-thirds of the way through the song. And in the absence of vocals, that jaunty little synth line and dissonant keys take over. It just works.

"Quotations" (not to be confused with the aforementioned tune) and "Track Five" tread similar ground Although, the latter layers in the most danceable beat on the LP. That drum machine just screams late 80s hip hop and R&B. It isn't "If It Isn't Love" -- like, AT ALL -- but there are elements of it that are evocative of the late era New Edition single (for some reason in the musical hodgepodge in my head).  And "Monday" slows things down to a tick tock pace and into ballad territory, but ballad with a stripped-down, airy twist, perhaps.

This is a fun record. It sizzles and cracks in all the right, weird places, and it has had me dipping back into its well for more since late August. Structure is definitely one of those not to be overlooked LPs of 2021.

Notes:

¹ Honestly, the vocals, not to mention the pacing, were reminiscent of Broadcast in my eye. That'll always check a box on my ledger.

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