Dress - Dress 12"

The scarce as hen’s teeth 10” from NZ’s Dress finally gets another life thanks to Sweden’s Fördämning Arkiv.

Comprising of Kristeen Wineera (Entlang) alongside Helen Johnstone and Yuri Frusin (of The Garbage & The Flowers fame), this collection of four tracks departs from familiar song-based forms into something more open ended and exploratory. Layered piano and guitar melodies wind and fold back on each other and themselves, accompanied by Johnstone’s haunting vocals, viola playing and tapes of backwards Gertrude Stein recordings to create a woozy and dreamlike atmosphere, with nods to folk musics and minimalism.

Also worth mentioning the extensive liner notes from Jon Dale who not only provides a short history of the group but critically situates Dress within the context of the 90s NZ underground and experimental theatre.

-Mitch