- In his review of Restless Idylls, the 2013 debut album from Camella Lobo's Tropic Of Cancer project, Aaron Coultate described the music as "bleak," "austere" and "bare-bones." He also remarked how the LA artist had crafted "a signature sound that is sleek and addictive" and would be "fascinating" to see where it goes. And though Lobo's first release in two years, the three-song Stop Suffering, hasn't gone all that far from Restless Idylls, it's no less fascinating for how it delves deeper into her signature space.
All three songs were penned by Lobo herself, after which she brought in Joshua Eustis (Telefon Tel Aviv, Sons Of Magdalene) for more production and mixing. You can catch subtle updates in the alternate version of "I Woke Up And The Storm Was Over," a moody track first released on this year's I Can't Give You The Life You Want vinyl-only compilation. The smeared reverb clouds and smoky synth swells are thickened and widened, so dense now that Lobo seems to float through them like a phantom. The obscurity works well with her voice—the further we feel from her soft melodies the closer we lean into them, the more the surrounding murk engulfs us.
Newer songs "Stop Suffering" and "When The Dog Bites" further this approach, and while using the same eerie palette of spindly guitar, minimal drum patterns and rich synth tones. It's remarkable how arresting Lobo's simplistic compositions can be with only the slightest chord changes or arrangement shifts, a testament to her songwriting and sound design. Having shed Tropic Of Cancer's post-punk tropes and other inessentials, Stop Suffering gets to the heart of what makes her music powerful.
TracklistA1 Stop Suffering
B1 I Woke Up And The Storm Was Over
B2 When The Dog Bites