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Ethereal chanteuse, Jessica Bailiff, and Rachel Staggs of lush shoe-gazers, Experimental Aircraft, have formed a dreamy super-duo of sorts with their latest project, Eau Claire. Recorded at 20 Below studio with Alan Sparhawk of Low, Jessica and Rachel cast a gauzy glow on the self-titled EP's four tracks.
"Freefall" starts things off with fuzzy, atmospheric drones, a farfisa organ, and a drumbeat that calls to mind Jesus and Mary Chain's, "Just Like Honey". The icing on this psychedelic cake is Jessica's lovely hazy soprano. Another highlight is the gorgeously oceanic, "Soaring", this time sung by Rachel. Clocking in at over nine minutes, the song glides by, washing the listener in it's melancholy light. The real strength in this EP, besides Rachel and Jessica being equally talented vocalists (their voices are able to blend seamlessly and yet sound distinct) and song-writers, is Eau Claire's ability to harness mood so effectively. By injecting their gilded melodies with shoe gaze, drone, and texture, the ladies of Eau Claire have offered up a yummy swoon-fest on this impressive, but far too short, debut. reviewed by: Venus Zine |
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Take Jessica Balliff, Rachel Goldstar, and Alan Sparhawk, place them in a recording studio, and you get a project called Eau Claire. Eau Claire is a collaboration between Jessica Balliff and Rachel Goldstar (Experimental Aircraft) with Alan Sparhawk as producer and recording engineer. The songs are a mix of singer-songwriter and blissed out dreampop. Coupled with the angelic vocals of Goldstar and Balliff, this short ep is worth every penny spent on it. It's spacious, beautiful, and utterly blissful.
“Freefall” begins the ep with blissful fuzz that lays a foundation for the rest of the album. This changes into fantastic, spacey keys and angelic female vocals. To be honest, Balliff and Goldstar’s voices make me swoon. They are perfect and they really draw you in amidst the slow-tempo fuzz. “Freefall” is slow, patient, and perfectly timed. “Soaring” begins with a sort of windy silence and a low rumble. This soft noise then blends with an acoustic guitar floating on top of it. When the rumble fades a bit, the vocals come in and, once again, the sweet, angelic voices come out of the speakers. “Soaring” is over nine minutes long and never, ever gets boring. Eventually, the noise in the background takes on a more structured feel that is beautiful and spacey. “For Times” begins with acoustic guitar and some sprinkles of keys and really cool knocking in the background. This has a more singer-songwriter feel to it, but the other more ambient/dreampop elements are still present. The track ends in a rather cool mix of eerie sounds and backward samples. “Song For” completes this all too short Ep and begins with acoustic guitar, fuzz, noises, and jingle bells. Balliff and Goldstar deliver ExAir style vocals. This song has a slow/medium tempo and really showcases their careful songwriting and their ability to be patient and allow the song to play itself out. The song eventually fades out into a slow murmur of humming undertones. Rachel Goldstar and Jessica Balliff deliver a solid, beautiful four songs. The only criticism I really have is that the ep is too short. Go buy it now! reviewed by: Jason for Somewhere Cold |
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I first heard Eau Claire way back in January 2005 when Rachel Staggs very kindly sent me a collection of songs on a CDR. I was very taken by the recordings then, and it’s good to see four tracks surfacing on this EP for clairecords. I’m sure many of you know already that Rachel is a member of the ace Experimental Aircraft outfit and that she contributed deliciously to the excellent Monster Movie Transistor set for Graveface. Jessica Bailiff, meanwhile, you possibly know as part of the Clear Horizon project with Flying Saucer Attack’s Dave Pearce. With those reference points in place you’d probably have a good idea of what Eau Claire sound like, and you’d be about right in thinking it was a sparse, shadowy and somewhat surreal spacerock suffused with sepulchral vocals. Certainly worth tracking down, and just the thing for lazy summer evenings on the lawn.
reviewed by: Tangents |
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Consisting of Jessica Bailiff and Rachel Staggs, Eau
Claire reminds us of the simple and mellow. Incredibly
wonderful song from their incredibly wonderful self
titled EP. I'm going to buy it.
reviewed by: Stavenger Studentradio Spilleliste Uke 21 (Norway) |
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This is a duo comprised by Rachel Staggs [Experimental Aircraft] and Jessica Bailiff [Clear Horizon] where the influences of their own projects are shaped in this EP of four songs of ethereal and melancholic pop with atmospheric guitars produced by Alan Sparhawk of Low.
On ‘Freefall’ - the opener of this CD – Bailiff's dreamy voice is wrapped on distorted guitars, drum beat and Farfisa organ that all together promote psychodelia which remembers me of Jesus And Mary Chain during their ‘Psychocandy’ time. The second cut ‘Soaring’ is a track with fine acoustic guitar chords, mellow synthesizer lines and some feedback effects. ‘For times’ follows the same path with the languid voice of Jessica and perhaps the most notable song here is the last one, ‘Song for’, where the ethereal choirs and the noise from the guitars combined together to leave us suspended in silence for more than a minute, in order to attend a dialogue of guitar delays later on. reviewed by: Guillermo Escudero for Loop.cl |
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Elsewhere in the sonic universe, Staggs has created Eau Claire, a duo with Chicago solo artist Jessica Bailiff. Produced by Alan Sparhawk of Low, the self-titled EP on Claire Records is an homage to all things lo-fi. The singers converge on opener "Freefall," with its Farfisa-driven beat, and then "Soaring," a tremolo backbend into Lush's Lovelife. Closer "Song For" simmers and boils for a lovely pop concoction.
reviewed by: From Austin Chronicles Fuzzbox |
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The EP's four tracks are spacy and ethereal. That's no surprise, as they're the work of former Experimental Aircraft and Clear Horizon members Jessica Bailiff and Rachel Staggs. They strive for fairly intricate experimentation here, with mixed results; while the songs are somber and moody, their snail's-pace tempos means they're more often boring than dreamy or melodic -- a bit like the Cocteau Twins on Xanax.
"Soaring", the EP's highlight, is a nine-minute-plus synth and acoustic guitar-driven wonder that's also heavy on feedback and distortion at all the right moments. The vocals are minimal -- just perceptible enough to offer a counterpoint to the music, which does most of the talking. Low's Alan Sparhawk, who produced the record, frequently massages the women's stylistic differences into a coherent sound, and he captures their personalities well. The EP doesn't work on all levels -- the overlong, overly repetitive "Song For" is emblematic of the "boring" factor -- but if you have an appetite for slow tempos and lush, spacy instrumentation, there's enough here to tide you over 'til the inevitable full-length falls to earth. reviewed by: David Cobb for Splendid |
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Eau Claire is the first collaboration between shoegazer guest vocalist Jessica Bailiff and Rachel Staggs of Experimental Aircraft and The Swells. It's an interesting combo, as Staggs' music is sturdy and rooted while Bailiff's breathy delivery rarely coheres beyond ephemeral. The disc is a great torch bearer for the 4AD bands of the late '80s/early '90s, without becoming bogged down in rote homage. There's an abundance of wafting synths, rolling waves of bass and acoustic strumming, but check out the upbeat electronic percussion and sleigh bells on "Song For" to find some uncharacteristic optimism.
While the project was conceived long distance -- Bailiff hails from Ohio, Staggs from Texas -- Low's Alan Sparhawk brought the two together for the actual recording sessions. The resultant sound is inflected with that band's austere and resolute resonance. There's a tendency in this genre to opt for the more-is-more approach to songwriting and production, but Eau Claire's temperance belies a confidence in their abilities and allows them to do away with the barrier many of their contemporaries tend to erect. reviewed by: Aaron Shaul for Ink19 |
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Haven't heard of Eau Claire? Well, you have in a way-either for Jessica
Bailiff's work on Kranky Records and with Flying Saucer Attack, or for
Rachel Staggs in Experimental Aircraft. Or maybe, just maybe, you've
heard of say... a band called Low? Thought you might've. Because
Low's Alan Sparhawk produced this debut EP of Bailiff's and Stagg's
under the name Eau Claire. And as much as it pains to have that fact
potentially overshadow the band itself, Low's influence is pretty
inescapable. "Freefall" is the fuzzed-out missing link between the
sub-sub-sub-genres of slow-core and shoegaze that would not be out
of place on Loveless or The Curtain Hits the Cast. "Soaring" fairly does
what its title implies, droning and swirling through mists and hazes for
nine minutes, vocals hovering gauzily in the mix. Not a groundbreaker,
but not a bad opening salvo either: in every way the musical equivalent
of Icy/Hot.
reviewed by: Michael Metivier for Popmatters |
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