Worship for mobility. Loosening the bolts while the wheels continue to spin.
One of my treasured NYC artists is Natalie Rose LeBrecht, whose heavily improvised, new-age romances of hollow ambiance and cathartic lullabies scratch an itch few artists reach. Exit Simulation, by South Carolina singer songwriter Niecy Blues, is an exemption to that standard. A debut, no less, Exit Simulation pursues a similar pattern as LeBrecht’s recent album Holy Prana Open Game. Both are restrained in pacing, unrestrained in tempo; two often interchangeable but divergent terms. Pacing: The holistic structure of a song. Tempo: The rhythm underpinning each song. I am a diehard fan of albums that don’t hurry through themselves. Too long is almost always better than too short (with respect to song length). In fact, I still believe that - despite its idleness - many of the tracks on Exit Simulation are abbreviated versions of what they should be. Not to discount Niecy Blues’s accomplishments with this record. Simply put, I desire more.
Exit Simulation is not entirely analogous to Holy Prana Open Game, however. While LeBrecht’s open-ended approach is a reprieve from the habitual cadence of urban life, Niecy Blues opts for a more deliberate, grounded interpretation of ambient pop. The bass, especially, serves as the independent variable of each track. Providing a point of reference for which the vocals and acoustic folk instrumentation ad-lib off of. This has the effect of a bare-bones R&B character, even if Exit Simulation is not an R&B album (to me). There is no dominant driving force, or backbeat, that is necessary for a genuine R&B experience. Honestly, it’s a miracle the instruments hold together. Like the second track, “The Nite B4,” which rotates on its orbit without direction, spinning in aimless circles. Still, this absolutely should have been 2-3 minutes longer. Take notes from “U Care,” for example, which clocks in at just over 6 minutes. Busy, but perpetually filling a basin that only dissolves into a gospel interlude once it overflows. It’s frustrating that “U Care” is stale compared to the flavor of many of the shortest tracks, but a progression is welcome and is a glimpse of what could be.
I don’t believe Niecy Blues is reaching for the stars with Exit Simulation. Proportionate to most ambient artists, her music is as tame as sheep. Likely, that’s the smartest choice. At times, the struggle for ambient artists is keeping a sense of stability. Or perhaps tension. Yes, ambient artists are praised for their purgatory-like landscapes that do away with musical conventions. But the best ambient artists realize not to do away, but merely to hide. Niecy Blues understands this well. The title track, for instance, appears to slip through its chains and slither through vicarious fantasies of yearning and affection. Multi-layered vocals overwhelm each other. But at its core, the deep-seated guitar arpeggios and timid bassline suffuse the track with custom. Compared to LeBrecht, this is a nuance I can appreciate.
It’s very easy to overlook an album as lackadaisical as Exit Simulation. It requires not only time commitment, but a mindset switch, to receive a less than tedious experience. Best done as a passive listen at first: An album to space out to, or to do chores to. Or to write blogs to. As an ice-breaker, at least. If you concentrate, there is more than enough to keep you preoccupied even without multitasking. Exit Simulation is a deeply reverent album. For those who believe in a higher power, this is an expression of faith. For those who don’t, it’s an expression of devotion. Either way, it’s a place of sanctity, impervious to the vices that attempt to wrangle it. Exit Simulation never succumbs to impatience, or heedlessness. A rare virtue.
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