teasea's dayz, nightz, & dreamz
Written by Carolyn Ambrosich
Exploring all 24 hours of teasea’s Summer Solstice 3 album release;
“dayz”, “nightz”, & “dreamz”
Written by Carolyn Ambrosich (she/they)
It was February first, and I woke up to a very thin layer of snow on the ground. It was the second of the two times snow has fallen this winter in New York. It made my heart both happy, and sadly nostalgic for the days when a New York City winter meant snow. I had woken up unreasonably early, at least for me, around 6 am. With little hope of falling back asleep, I decided to listen to teasea’s record ‘dayz’. Ironically, this record was released at the sunrise on the summer solstice, at 5:13 am. There was something beautiful about the opportunity of listening to a record that seeks to capture the warmth of that day, as the world outside was quite the opposite.
‘dayz’ attempts to capture the energy of the longest day of the year, the start of the summer, and it achieves this thoughtfully. We are invited into this world with a spacey, lush atmosphere. Birds are chirping, and one feels as if they are in a dense green forest. At times the record is hazy and mellow, exemplified by the track “makin’ brew”, and at other times it is sexy, playful, and a little funky, which we hear most forwardly in the track “wavy raisin”. Throughout the record there are sweet, and melodic guitar riffs that echo out into the lush. Only very occasionally does this record sample voices. One of those voices we find on “truly”, a track that feels like the in between of frequencies on an old radio someone forgot to turn off. I found that I could have lingered longer in this world, similar to the feeling one may experience at the end of the sunlight on the day of the summer solstice.
On the same day, teasea, released two more records. The second one, titled “nightz”, came out as the sun was setting on the 2022 solstice, at 8:30 pm. Similarly, I listened to the record around the sunset, but in the wintertime. This record held the presence of the nighttime. It evokes a gentle darkness, but also a peacefulness. I found it as a welcome invitation for my mind to slip away, to ponder, and to reminisce. On the track, “CrunchY”, we find that darkness, and a bit of mystery, as hollow, windy synth cords play under a beat that claps and tinkers. It feels remotely ghostly, as voices swell and sing in the back of the mix. In several tracks, the guitar seems to perseverate on a certain idea. In those moments of perserveration, such as on “Reminisce”, the listener is able to explore that space more deeply as the line repeats. The record as a whole, arcs beautifully. It maneuvers from a greater sense of alertness, and engagement, to a middle ground of reflection, and eventually to an abstracted echoey guitar that nearly lulls us to sleep.
The last of the albums is titled “dreamz”, and was released at 11:11 pm. The first track, “SHIFTING THRU”, calls back that lush forest space we hear at the beginning of “dayz”, except this time those forests sounds are more immeshed in a floating, capacious atmosphere. The album hums with a glowing drone that maintains a steady presence throughout the record. That glow, however, fluctuates between bright and floating, to heavy and dense. The densest of the tracks being “A MILLION TINY THOUGHTS ROLLED INTO ONE”. Fittingly, the track is a space that feels both expansive and pressurized. The continual drone, makes this record deeply meditative, and allows for the listener to have a more passive engagement. It evokes a spacey, dream-like world, in the way it floats and swells without there being any distinct “thoughts”.
As I journeyed through my cool, February days listening to these summer solstice records I was warmed by their presence, and the memories they conjure. teasea creates a expansive world that is full of both the sweetness of summertime, and its languid heat. They made me curious to explore more of this Brooklyn based artist’s discography. I found some tracks from some of my favorite artists, including Talk Bazaar, Laura Wolf, and Weeze. The draw to teasea’s music is in its ability to let the listener’s mind wander and explore spaces full of depth and wonder. Just like his Spotify bio notes, I was left yearning for more, and look forward to the next release from teasea.
Written by Carolyn Ambrosich
