Consummation, the third album by Katie Von Schleicher (formerly of Wilder Maker), was inspired in part by Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo. The album might not be strictly about an acrophobic detective or mysterious deaths, but the influence is there. Because after watching the film in 2018, Von Schleicher became fixated on the its subtext of abuse, a hidden narrative that struck her personally.
Around the same time, female voices in literature became a source of inspiration and sanctuary. Von Schleicher cites the likes of Carmen Maria Machado, Rachel Cusk and Rebecca Solnit, and upon reading a piece on Vertigo by the latter, Von Schleicher began to join the dots. Solnit’s essay uses the film to explore the dichotomy between modes of romance; “communion,” i.e. mutual respect and understanding between both sides of a relationship, versus “consummation,” a term Solnit uses to describe the “wandering, stalking, haunting” pursuit of love depicted in the film. “Told from the man’s point of view, Vertigo is awash with romantic fog,” Solnit describes, “but from the woman’s perspective, it’s about being forced to disappear.”
Taking this idea as a starting point to delve into more private thoughts, Consummation is a formidably personal exploration of trauma which promises to see Von Schleicher “blast past the lo-fi power ballads” of 2017’s Shitty Hits, swelling in various directions both sonic and thematic.
In anticipation, Von Schleicher has released the album’s first two singles. ‘Caged Sleep’ came out a few weeks ago, a song based on a mysteriously significant dream. “While the rest of the songs were being mixed, I had a vivid dream with a snake the color of lapis lazuli,” Von Schleicher describes. “That became ‘Caged Sleep,’ an ode to a dream that ended a period of my life.” It’s something like a pop song, upbeat percussion skipping beneath synths and sax and Von Schleicher’s dream-like croon. This surreal edge is amped up in Matt Strickland’s video, which sees shadowy scenes illuminated in hues of red and blue and sickly green.
The second single is ‘Nowhere,’ a track about both embracing and trying to overcome “the close and tight feeling of being alone.” The dreaminess is softer, less ominous, as Von Schleicher sings of being home by herself before leaving to drive through the night alone, and the song suggests a slower side to what is shaping up to be one of the year’s most ambitious and interesting albums.