Beck Zegans - Engraving Of Armor - Green Smoke [Colored Vinyl] (Grn)

On her new record, NYC songwriter Beck Zegans explores the strange architecture of emotional defense, through a series of songs that flash between fiery rock, experimental folk and psychedelia. Centering on themes of emotional defense and desire, Engraving Of Armor sings to the invisible shields we build around ourselves, the weight they carry, and those fragile moments when it all starts to unravel. Released via Exploding In Sound Records, Engraving Of Armor is built of nine new songs that move between confrontation and contemplation. An immersive body of work, the songs here are grounded by cyclical, meditative drums, bursts of heavy guitars, and the occasional warm pulse of analogue synths. At it's heart, the album digs into what it means to wear emotional armor, and Zegans seeks the answer to this question through songs that touch upon longing, ambivalence, and avoidance; the complicated exhilaration of falling in love. Of both wanting deeply, and resisting that want at the same time.Musically, the album sits in conversation with a wide range of influences, just as comfortable when leaning into the textural experimentation of Autolux and Sonic Youth, as it when pulling from the intimate songwriting of Nick Drake or the modern urgency of Fontaines D.C. Those inspirations conjure a sound that is emotionally direct, sonically adventurous, and quietly hypnotic.