To celebrate the year anniversary of the release, Dickson is sharing ‘Skin of Words’ as a single, and anyone who missed The Beholder first time around would be advised to take notice. Crafted from characteristically dreamlike sounds, the song submerges the listener within an ambiguous, unanchored atmosphere. One where the mood is never static, the sound always moving but never within the neat arc of narrative. Instead, differing sensations are juxtaposed so that tension might be achieved, not least the pairing of granular textures with sweeping movement. “I was interested in the contrast and coexistence of high drama, drops, big sounds, and lush textures, with delicate, close, subtle, sensorial sounds,” Dickson continues. “It felt important for moments to have the tactility that comes from a sample of the rain or a bell or some rocks being jostled together. To me, reality has this quality; moments of sensory blending and cohesion punctuated by the hyperreal. The archetype of the beholder is fascinated by this way of being—unmoored from the trappings of actuality.”

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The record originated on a tall ship in the Arctic Circle, which inspired Claire Dickson to weave a harmony that imitates and accentuates the sound of the tide on a rocky beach while anchored in a cove at night. On returning home, Dickson found herself still enchanted by “the simultaneous otherworldly and deeply personal experience of the undisturbed natural landscape in the Arctic,” and Starland was shaped into something of a concept album based around this experience. A “cohesive soundscape” that helps tease out a compelling narrative too.

To realise its glacial, expansive and moody style, this soundscape hops between genres. Jazz, ambient and art pop are all touchstones, but it is Dickson’s voice which takes centre stage and helps to knit these styles together. In this manner, she follows in the footsteps of Laurie Anderson and Meredith Monk, vocalists who utilised their voices as instruments through a blend of technique and electronics.

Lead single and title track ‘Starland’ is the perfect encapsulation of this style. Within the spacious quiet of the opening, Dickson’s vocals are just another element of the minimal soundscape, used more akin to synths that traditional vocals. The result is something almost primordial, a space wordless and prehuman gathering toward some higher, more natural logic. The track grows richer as it unfurls in lush reverb, though this creates a sense of distance too. The paradox at the heart of Starland which evokes that of the Arctic itself, where the environment is somehow both ethereal and profoundly physical.

Starland is out now and you can get it from the Claire Dickson Bandcamp page.

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