After their Matador debut Everyone’s Crushed landed on numerous year-end lists in 2023, all eyes were on how Water From Your Eyes—Rachel Brown and Nate Amos—would evolve their duo. The two have pursued very different solo paths under the names This is Loreley and thanks for coming, respectively. Yet It’s A Beautiful Place picks up seamlessly where they left off: imagine the chaotic energy of Royal Trux paired with the delicate female vocals of Stereolab—or, for a more current comparison, Jockstrap’s genre-clashing aesthetics meet the exuberant guitars of, say, Wavves.
Consisting of just six «real» tracks and four atmospheric interludes, the album’s structure follows a vaguely dystopian mood rather than any conventional logic. After the woozy, staggering opener »Spaceship« – complete with a backwards guitar solo—comes »Playing Classics«, a stomping dance track laced with toy-piano keys and rap verses by Brown. »Blood on the Dollar« then plays the part of a power ballad, before »For Mankind« circles back to complete the opening track »One Small Step«, closing It’s A Beautiful Place in a self-swallowing loop. The end is the beginning—and we’re caught inside the ellipse.
