Grown Unknown
Lia Ices
Grown Unknown
Probably part of some arts scene in some arts city somewhere in the U.S., singer/songwriter Lia Ices' webpage is stocked with great pieces of unique work. Songs, videos, photographs, artwork - you name it. At first, for me, the draw was Dylan Eastgaard's tasteful video for an older Ices track called "You Will." The subtle winter-friendly style of the video and song sucked me in, demanding that I look closer at this very feminine songwriter who, if I'm being honest, makes a kind of music that I very rarely listen to. Next came the video for "Half Life," directed by Simone Montemurno and Joana Bovay and also not included on Ices' latest release, Grown Unknown. Damn good. Great, even. I had to look even closer.
Ices, a striking artist who looks like a mix between a young Alanis Morissette and Joanna Newsom and sings a bit like a more delicate version of Basia Bulat, released Necima recently before signing with Jagjaguwar, who are just now releasing her first internationally distributed record, the above mentioned Grown Unknown. The initial word that came to mind while first working my way through the record's nine-song, 38-minute playlist is elegant, Ices coming off like a new age Joni Mitchell. A new age Joni, that is, if Joni floated on clouds and never befriended a slew of jazz players. Best described as an avant garde pop singer with a sultry, silencing croon, Ices (who is actually part of the forever booming Brooklyn arts scene) makes the kind of puzzle piece girl pop that fans of Kate Bush, Tiny Vipers and Tori Amos - and even more accessible artists like Feist and Bulat - should flip for. Having trained at New York University's Tisch School, she mixes a classical background with an experimental drive, crafting string-backed piano compositions that work as something of a yin to Nina Nastasia's less-perfected yang.
That Grown Unknown was released during the coldest months of the 2011 is no mistake. Mostly quiet and gentle, these are the kinds of songs made for cold, grey days - the kind you spend reading books and grasping onto the nuances of incredibly arranged pop music. And while Ices' is surely an original, I do find little bits of influence to grab onto. For example, there are moments in the very good "Daphne" (a song that features Bon Iver's cameo-happy Justin Vernon) where I feel the spirit of Fiona Apple floating in the mix. Another influence I keep coming back to are Will Oldham's Bonnie "Prince" Billy albums. I can't help but sense that Ices has listened to nuanced masterpieces like Master and Everyone, I See a Darkness and The Letting Go plenty in her day, mirroring Oldham's knack for creating big, sweeping landscapes using tiny details. The key to Ices' success, of course, is that her music only takes in spirit - not in sound - from her influences.
Each time I listen to this very good record, which works as something of a proper introduction to Ices, I wonder how well it will do outside of places like Brooklyn, Portland and Seattle. I could see it finding a loyal following, almost for certain, but I could also see it doing more. I could see it being something of a cult record that kicks off a long, shifting career. "Lilac," a song placed late in the tracklist, will appear at a pivotal moment in a movie someday and "Love Is Won" will be on "Grey's Anatomy" or play at weddings or even hip coffee shops. The record's title track, another favorite, is an instantly memorable cut that features a minimalist, hand clap-driven arrangement that, before the song ends, builds and builds, adding a powerful string arrangement and, naturally, Ices' big (though almost always hushed) vocals. That track, I feel, is the secret to the record. Everything here, at first at least, seems quiet and subtle. But the more you get to know these songs - the more you get to know Ices - the more everything feels so big, so expansive. Not stadium big, but rumbling through the snow-covered mountains big. It all adds up to Grown Unknown, one of the first great records of 2011. 7/10