Laura Stevenson - The Big Freeze (2019)

Posted By: delpotro

Date: Dec. 9, 2019

If gravity is strong enough, at the end of time our universe will collapse, pulling all of existence back down to infinitesimal size, like before the Big Bang. But if expansion outpaces gravity, eventually the universe will be cold and empty–all light, heat, and connection will be gone. That possibility is called The Big Freeze.

Recorded in her childhood home during the dead of winter, The Big Freeze represents a pivotal step for New York songwriter Laura Stevenson. Despite her pedigree in the punk and indie rock scenes, and the occasional inclusion of a backing band (like the sprightly, C86-inspired pop track “Dermatillomania”), for the first time on record Stevenson’s voice and guitar are in clear and highlighted focus. It is a natural aesthetic choice for the musician, who has often toured as a solo act and who pulls influence from the great American songbook, and a choice that plays to the core strength and organic beauty of her writing. And though it is easily the darkest and most emotionally-devastating album of Stevenson’s career, it is also without a doubt her most powerful.

Stevenson builds on her own private worlds with choruses of multi-tracked voices, swarms of cellos, French horns and violins; orchestration that blooms and swells throughout each intimate performance. Exploring thematic ideas of distance and misconnection; worlds pulling apart, aching loneliness, and attempts to drive out hibernating dormant demons.

In the opening track Stevenson’s voice insists the listener “lay back with arms out, all-in, unfeeling,” to allow themselves to sink into a flood of instrumental sound that thrums between dissonance and resolution. From waves crashing in an abandoned waterpark on the haunting “Value Inn”, to the last leaves trembling before winter sets in on “Rattle At Will”, a creeping sense of isolation and anxious beauty surrounds every song. And yet there is also warmth, and hope. The album’s third track “Living Room, NY” tells of an intercontinental love and longing which seems to have the strength to thrive despite even the most trying and impossible of circumstances. Across ten tracks, the listener will travel through the cold night, following after a small but powerful flame burning from the other side.

Stevenson is a songwriter whose strengths have gone unsung for far too long, but The Big Freeze is likely to change that. At times you will be reminded of classic American songwriters from both the mainstream and the fringe, whether it’s Jason Molina, Judee Sill, Harry Nilsson or Dolly Parton. But always you will be reminded of the power of the human voice (and a single guitar) to invoke the universe. Or in this case, it’s end.

Tracklist:
1. Lay Back, Arms Out (03:42)
2. Value Inn (02:45)
3. Living Room, NY (03:22)
4. Dermatillomania (02:29)
5. Hum (03:32)
6. Rattle at Will (03:42)
7. Hawks (01:28)
8. Big Deep (03:33)
9. Low Slow (05:08)
10. Perfect (04:16)

EAC

Exact Audio Copy V1.1 from 23. June 2015

EAC extraction logfile from 27. November 2019, 23:22

Laura Stevenson / The Big Freeze

Used drive : TSSTcorpCDDVDW SU-208GB Adapter: 1 ID: 0

Read mode : Secure
Utilize accurate stream : Yes
Defeat audio cache : Yes
Make use of C2 pointers : No

Read offset correction : 6
Overread into Lead-In and Lead-Out : No
Fill up missing offset samples with silence : Yes
Delete leading and trailing silent blocks : No
Null samples used in CRC calculations : Yes
Used interface : Native Win32 interface for Win NT & 2000
Gap handling : Appended to previous track

Used output format : User Defined Encoder
Selected bitrate : 1024 kBit/s
Quality : High
Add ID3 tag : No
Command line compressor : C:\Program Files (x86)\Exact Audio Copy\Flac\flac.exe
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TOC of the extracted CD

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Track 1

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Test CRC 0D8D0D75
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Accurately ripped (confidence 1) [C8E6CAC0] (AR v2)
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Track 2

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Accurately ripped (confidence 1) [6D896A77] (AR v2)
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Track 3

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Test CRC A14E9C18
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Accurately ripped (confidence 1) [90039378] (AR v2)
Copy OK

Track 4

Filename C:\Users\craig\Music\04 - Dermatillomania.wav

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Accurately ripped (confidence 1) [428FEAF4] (AR v2)
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Track 5

Filename C:\Users\craig\Music\05 - Hum.wav

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Track 6

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Accurately ripped (confidence 1) [193C3148] (AR v2)
Copy OK

Track 7

Filename C:\Users\craig\Music\07 - Hawks.wav

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Test CRC A4109187
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Accurately ripped (confidence 1) [CB60C992] (AR v2)
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Track 8

Filename C:\Users\craig\Music\08 - Big Deep.wav

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Accurately ripped (confidence 1) [7D6505A7] (AR v2)
Copy OK

Track 9

Filename C:\Users\craig\Music\09 - Low Slow.wav

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Accurately ripped (confidence 1) [67498AEF] (AR v2)
Copy OK

Track 10

Filename C:\Users\craig\Music\10 - Perfect.wav

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Test CRC 13525452
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Accurately ripped (confidence 1) [8B6CEB7E] (AR v2)
Copy OK

All tracks accurately ripped

No errors occurred

End of status report

–– CUETools DB Plugin V2.1.6

[CTDB TOCID: grFIIEdmNIosquBzk9BpbGztasQ-] found
Submit result: grFIIEdmNIosquBzk9BpbGztasQ- has been confirmed
Track | CTDB Status
1 | (4/4) Accurately ripped
2 | (4/4) Accurately ripped
3 | (4/4) Accurately ripped
4 | (4/4) Accurately ripped
5 | (4/4) Accurately ripped
6 | (4/4) Accurately ripped
7 | (4/4) Accurately ripped
8 | (4/4) Accurately ripped
9 | (4/4) Accurately ripped
10 | (4/4) Accurately ripped

==== Log checksum FC45BD0F06821F8FC28ACBDA2382528B0652C60ABCCDF254762F70830AD9A39B ====

Thanks to the Original ripper !