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Slo-core is an oft misapplied term, but in the music of the androgynously voiced Chris Healey it finds a fitting home. Certainly, comparisons to Low apply here, but primarily in regards to Mimi's and Chris' vocal similarities. The half-speed instrumental structures these gloom-beguiled lads construct around those vocals are far more secondary a parallel, being that Healey's creations adhere to a poppier brand of winsomeness, and are as likely influenced by shoe-gazer bliss-outs as the miniscule chord-progressions of Low and company. Lyrically, Healey mirrors the dreamy delicacies of his music, sketching impossibly romantic tales of misanthropy that are guided by the knowledge that his music is gorgeous enough to engulf the benignly outlined negativity of his worldview (though I could easily state the reverse, I suppose). Movie and Babies Eyes are especially good examples of this symbiosis, their brevity only strengthening their lingering appeal. Much like a Renoir film, Coming To Terms captures the isolation and desperation of its authors, yet codes salvation within the transcendency of its orchestrations. Which is good, because, what is life without hope?

G.C. Weeks
CWAS #6 - Autumn 2000

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