With every posthumous Arthur Russell album — each organized and edited with painstaking care by Russell's longtime partner Tom Lee and Audika Records' Steve Knutson — we're granted another peek into the artist's world of echo. We're not, however, granted a better look at Russell himself; his music obfuscates and reveals in equal measure, a constant push and pull that leaves a kinetic haze of tension that hangs like a veil before his face.
Picture of Bunny Rabbit doesn't disrupt this act of half-disappearance — these opalescent, alien songs are as difficult to square as any in his awe-inspiring catalogue, shivering along streaks of cello and burbling pulses that scatter and circle like fireflies. But while they may be largely inscrutable, they're also endlessly beautiful and mind-meltingly singular.
From the gorgeous shapeshifter that is opener "Fuzzbuster #10" to the deep-space traversing closer "In the Light of a Miracle," Russell's work continues to confound for its exacting emotionality and ambiguous provenance. Where did these songs come from? Where were they intended to go? Thankfully, we'll likely never know.
(Audika Records)Picture of Bunny Rabbit doesn't disrupt this act of half-disappearance — these opalescent, alien songs are as difficult to square as any in his awe-inspiring catalogue, shivering along streaks of cello and burbling pulses that scatter and circle like fireflies. But while they may be largely inscrutable, they're also endlessly beautiful and mind-meltingly singular.
From the gorgeous shapeshifter that is opener "Fuzzbuster #10" to the deep-space traversing closer "In the Light of a Miracle," Russell's work continues to confound for its exacting emotionality and ambiguous provenance. Where did these songs come from? Where were they intended to go? Thankfully, we'll likely never know.
