Some Kind of Eden Album Review

The mystifying Auckland-based Claire Duncan returns with her musical alter-ego Dear Time’s Waste. Some Kind of Eden is the new album by this introspective artist. The work is a descent down a spiral staircase into dark, synthetic pits of ethereal ambience. Duncan’s honest and almost saintly vocals are juxtaposed against instrumental and lyrical intensity. Some Kind of Eden is refreshingly haunting like ice, cold water being splashed against your skin.

A very dark, subversive scene is set by Duncan with the first track ‘Hands’ creeping onto the soundscape. Duncan’s vocals are ghostlike in songs like ‘Strings’ and ‘Six Feet Down. She really manages to capture etherealness in the way these tracks have been produced and mixed. It makes her work transient and untraceable, an existential enigma.

‘Fortunes’ is one of the standout songs on Eden. There is this gorgeousness in its sweet melancholy that is brilliantly layered against disconcerting beats. It is a very Bjork-esque composition comprised of languid yet rich elements. This is followed by the synthetically sexy ‘Curtains’. Duncan is a spine-chilling seductress. 

Take just one sip of ‘The Drink’ and step on an intoxicating journey with Duncan and the pounding rhythms that set the heartbeat of the track. ‘Heavy/High’ has a cool steel foundation of industrialised facets, making it feel icy. But Duncan’s tiered harmonies are somewhat comforting making the song this strange mix of being offhand yet relaxing. This is the common theme of Dear Times Waste- the work is gently unsettling. The conclusion of the album, ‘Body Back’ is a song that is subconsciously calming. 

Some Kind of Eden is like being in a haunted house, but being guided by a benevolent spectre in your exploration. This is Eden. Well this is Duncan’s kind of Eden. And frankly it is an unnerving paradise, a melancholic garden you will want to explore more. 

-Janise