REVIEW: Carla Patullo “So She Howls” (LP)
I can’t say that I’ve heard another release this year that sounds like Carla Patullo’s So She Howls. The intense individuality informing the album’s nine songs impresses listeners with an initial listen and continues growing on you with each subsequent pass. I am not a particular fan of electronic-driven instrumental music, but Patullo approaches such a style with a different mindset than what we’d hear from many of her contemporaries. The tempos of each composition are staid for the most part, paced slowly, but the songs generate energy in different ways. The confluence of assorted dynamics and the measured, if not outright stately, gait of these songs wash over you as inexorable waves of sound orchestrated to provoke emotion and thought alike.
URL: https://www.carlapatullo.com/
“If You Listen” ushers listeners into Patullo’s interior world. The movement and accumulation of the song’s music reminds me of phantasmagorical colors rising upwards to the sky, hallucinatory, and deeply introspective. Classical influences are prevalent throughout the release. Martha Mooke’s viola plays a prominent role in the song’s success and her forceful work stands out amidst the electronic color. The vocal ensemble Tonality, founded by Alexander Lloyd Blake, is an important role-player as well.
“Calling You” is one of the fiercest moments on the release. Patullo’s vocals are practically glowing with ethereal inspiration and the lack of words is no impediment to feeling the full emotional range of this performance. Patullo’s ability to evoke such an array of feelings within relatively brief songs, none longer than a little over five minutes in length, testifies to her extraordinary skill.
“Machine Dreams” is one of the album’s rare moments of out-and-out physicality. Using drums during the second half of the song gives it a distinctly different tilt than its counterparts without ever sounding out of place in the larger scheme of the album. “Without Noise” uses drums as well, not to the same degree, but they fuel the arrangement with an over-arching grandiosity that other cuts on the release lack. The classical strands of these songs are obvious again, but you can hear Patullo’s grounding in film scoring leaping out at you too.
Lyricism of the highest order rules the roost during the album’s final two songs. “Earth” benefits greatly from the presence of violin player extraordinaire Lili Haydn and she weaves impassioned cries from deep within into the song’s fabric. Her piercing lines during the second part of the song are especially potent. “And Love” is a stirring finale that may bring some sensitive listeners to tears. Patullo allows herself to shine as a lyricist with this tune and it delivers a well-rounded, deeply felt message that ends the album in a perfect manner. It behooves you to view the song’s video as well — it deepens your understanding of what an intensely personal project this is for Patullo.
Despite the personal nature of the work, open-minded listeners will still connect with this music. Emotion floods out of every performance and the careful, studied arrangements are full of improbable yet welcome life. Carla Patullo’s So She Howls is a deeply fulfilling listening adventure.
Colin Jordan
