For The Sake Of Stillness is the debut solo album from Built To Spill and Blood Lemon bassist Melanie Radford, recorded in between tours and with ambient field recordings and help from Le Almeida, Jim Roth, Lori Goldston and Caca Amaral. Produced and engineered by Melanie Radford, Le Almeida and Jim Roth, Mixed by Le Almeida and Mastered by Mell Dettmer.
The album opens with Philadelphia with slow ambient keyboards droning beneath Melanie's wistful vocals, making clear Philadelphia is still on her mind, while the bass runs add a slight jazz inflection.
Hangin' On is a state many Americans are particularly used to being the new normal, just about Hangin' On to the hope that things might improve, this has super slow bass with elegiac cello, Melanie is searching for your face in a crowd, the hope you might be there's again. Hail Mary has footsteps on a gravel path, birdsong and the slowest bass line imaginable for the hope that she might be given a Hail Mary.
Sink & Swallow the slow atmospherics and shuffling beat, strings build into a warm cocoon to wrap your feelings within. Seagull is hoping they don't swoop in and nick your chips, that the slow deliberate bass notes are enough to ward off the meanest Seagull since Bobby.
Valentina is the slowest most barely their song I've heard about Valentina, this is not in praise of any Cosmonauts as far as I can tell, but feels like a tribute to a departed dear friend, wistful and almost ghostly presence.
Back Again hoping the buzzing in my head is more than just some amps buzzing in need of biasing, the bass being fingered gently, mesmerically shifting through space, ready for Melanie's soul searching, wondering if she will have you Back Again or not.
Home has a gentle spaciness, feeling like this was played at 3 in the morning and she doesn't want to disturb her sleeping lover, but needs to get these notes down, like she won't be able to sleep if they are not recorded, eventually some rumbling bass drum arrives like the neighbours can hear her and are banging on the walls for some peace, so they can go back to sleep once more.
The album closes with Outro: A Walk Away that fades in like a super slow Spectrum song, gently evolving with the drums beating the pace of that Walk Away from the hectic parts of her life, to the relative calm of home, breathing space between journeys and adventures.
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