perila – The air outside feels crazy right now

Following up on the personal landmark of Intrinsic Rhythm, which from vetiver percussions to the antic and dreamy vocals of the back side felt like her most cohesive and compelling record to date, plus other recent standouts like Jazz Plates with Ulla and pmxper in collaboration with Pavel Milyakov not forgetting the product of a Maison Salvan residency near Toulouse in the form of the warm and anticipatory On the Corner of the Day, now Perila – whose music demands nothing but always deserves close listening – returns to the Berlin label Vaagner for what is billed as a sequel to her 2021 pandemic-era capture 7.37/2.11.

The air outside feels crazy right now finds the middle ground between Hayden Pedigo and Tirzah, made up for the most part of spare and wiry, almost primitive guitar loops which are both fortified and hollowed out by her gossamer vocals, murmuring cobwebs. Throw in a bit of Grouper for good measure, as Perila turns to the piano on ‘Barefeeter’ and the album closer ‘Unseen’, though over clandestine keys and a furtive scratching the distant vocal on ‘Barefeeter’ reminds me of ‘Gladly’ and ‘Fine Again’ while the more placid ‘Unseen’ at the very last brings in a loose and loping yet still emphatic drum beat. ‘Wanting is a substance derived from unexpressed’, a repurposed loosie from 2022, carries the rattle of a Western while at other moments there’s the faintest echo of a submerged eighties or early nineties power ballad, something like ‘Show Me Heaven’ from the Days of Thunder soundtrack as sung scorchingly by Marie McKee.

In fact each of the eight tracks on The air outside feels crazy right now stem from earlier sessions, with the songs recorded sometime between 2021 and 2023. Expressing her thanks to Vaagner for assembling the record, the artist writes:

Each track feels like a door to a heavy feeling felt so clearly and processed lightly through sounds. This archival collection is very dear to me.

The album opener ‘Over me’ swallows up guitar music through stretches of staticky silence and a craggy bassline, linking slowcore to ambient synthesis as much as earlier forms of rock, while ‘Gooshy’ bears a cowboy’s swagger and a horse’s dour or quizzical demeanour. There’s often a kind of quavering and transitory aspect to Perila’s music but on ‘Fossil’ she steps inside the composition, cooing ‘I understand, it’s a time capsule’ while repeating the phrases ‘fill me’ or ‘feel me’ and ‘noises and words’.