Do you believe in ghosts?
If you’re a skeptic like I was, allow me to introduce you to sleep-rock group, Picastro, whose three members are nothing short of ectoplasm-drenched poltergeists. Lead singer Liz Hysen sounds like the ghost of Joni Mitchell, combining the legend’s deep tones with an unsettling hollowness. Hysen’s voice is a strange combination of spooky and soporific, as if she was trying to lull you into a sleep from which you would never awaken. Cellist Stephanie Vittas, doesn’t make her cello weep; she makes it moan. With a terrifying cello and an incredibly disconcerting voice, Picastro knows exactly how to make your skin crawl.
In their fourth studio album, Become Secret, Picastro made a conscious effort to be disturbing, experimenting to create the most strident chords possible. Become Secret is a subtly striking compilation of moans, sighs and lullaby.
The album starts with “Twilight Parting,” a minimalist song with brazen simplicity and awkward tonalities. Mind you, the awkwardness is the desired effect, not a mistake. The next few songs work together to further the awkward atmosphere, combining self-made chords with constant bass lines to create contrasting textures of harsh instability with calm repetition. In “Split Head,” Hysen truly acts like a ghost, capriciously popping in and out of an instrumental to deliver a sporadic verse.
Picastro then eliminates all doubt of their undead status on “Suttee.” The entire song consists of the band going a cappella and repeating “You will never love again” for one and a half minutes. The final track, “A Neck in the Desert,” sums up the entire album; it starts with simple instrumentation, then builds up with increasingly bitter chords and culminates in an instrumental sigh.
Become Secret made a believer out of me: not just of ghosts, but of the whole Gothic-sleepy rock genre. Picastro is the gothic Beethoven. Their music is the soundtrack to Edgar Allen Poe’s dreams. I have never heard a more melancholy cello or a more unsettling voice. Stereotypes be damned: Picastro is a genuine talent and Become Secret comes highly recommended by this recanting ex-nonbeliever.
Track Listing:
01. Twilight Parting
02. A Dune A Doom
03. Pig & Sucker
04. Split Head
05. I Know My Time Now
06. Neva
07. Suttee
08. A Neck In The Desert
09. The Stiff
Cello on this particular record is actually Stephanie Vittas, who played cello on the first Picastro record. I play some wind instruments on one track on this disc, but I would not want to take credit for her playing… I’m on “Whore Luck” and will be on future releases too… Cheers!
Thanks for the update Nick. We’ll get the credit corrected. Loved the wind contributions to the record, too!