Burn Tape, a stripped down, lo-fi lullaby, is Blake Miller’s follow-up to 2006’s Together With Cats and his second 
release for Exit Stencil Recordings. Offered exclusively as a digital download and in classic cassette format, Burn Tape speaks to the grumpy old art school pedagogy that an artist’s choice of materials and presentation should be a reflection of and have a direct relationship to the intention of the work itself. I am reminded of this when I listen to Miller.
While the music feels unscripted, as if Miller accidentally recorded noises in his apartment for a few weeks, collecting the data of his life—the fuzz of an old black and white television, the shake of salt, the tinker of rain on the awning outside his window, the cackle and clapping of good times, and the self-soothing purr of a wounded gent traversing the landscape of his heartbreak, Miller’s music is actually less impulsive than one might think. With plush, multi-layered vocal harmonies and ambient sounds that create complex and haunting arrangements, the music is anything but accidental.
Some may question Miller’s choice to release the album in alternative format only, but it’s no coincidence that he made an album that feels both immediate and current and yet completely archaic and then puts it out in digital format and cassette only. Think about who’s listening to this album, better yet, think about who’s reading this and it makes sense. Burn Tape is a highly articulated album and the ultimate in form meets content and it caters to a geek, er…niche audience in just the way it was intended to.
I keep coming back to the opening track, “This Morningâ€, where Miller overlaps, loops, and chants, “Maybe this is what life is all about/I try to be meaningful and complex/why should I try to be meaningful and complex/complex/meaningful/complex/meaningful.” It’s a trance-like little opener that sets the tone of the album, which transcribes moments, captures sounds, and collects evidence. Burn Tape is nostalgic in this way without being overly sentimental. It’s adorned without being lavish. It’s catchy without being poppy. It’s folk without the trend. It’s emo without the loathing. And it’s completely aware of all of this in just the way my art school mentors thought great work should be.
Blake Miller’s Burn Tape is available now.
Tracklisting:
01. This Morning
02. In the Danger
03. Pigeons Like Windowsills
04. Long Hair
05. When the Sky Turns to Black (The Rain Is All Around)
06. Tomorrow Sorrow
07. The Ghost of My Soul (My Hands Are Shaking)
08. We Drove Through Winter
09. A Golden Bird, a Wooden Floor, a Box of Skulls
10. Vghff (Air Flex)
Amazing
I Love THIS MORNING…