Anna Domino – East & West

Most of the songs on Anna Domino’s brilliant solo debut East & West were written in her childhood bedroom in the late hours of the night on a mini portastudio. These DIY bedroom recordings later found their way to Belgian label Les Disques Du Crépuscule, who signed Domino and flew her out to Brussels to record with fellow 80’s art-pop purveyors Virginia Astley, Blaine L. Reininger (of Tuxedomoon), and Luc Van Acker. Anna adopted the stage surname “Domino” from the sugar manufacturer, but her music doesn’t quite hit the palette with a delectable sweetness as the name might suggest. The textures here are a little dark, icy, and rely heavily on eerie production and cold drum machine sequences. Domino’s beautifully fragile vocals are emotionally felt but often delivered with a slightly apathetic stiffness as if she’s apprehensive, sulking, and full of regret. Surprisingly, the album’s accumulated unease and indifference actually create for quite an emotional listening experience. Not to mention, the album also contains a strangely haunting but moving rendition of Aretha Franklin’s classic “Land of My Dreams.” East and West as a whole is an infectious and evocative dream and is up there with the best 80’s introspective art-pop.

– Dane Majors

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