Recorded in a little bedroom studio out in Durham, North
Carolina, Amelia Meath and Nick Sanborn's debut LP as
Sylvan Esso arrived in 2014 at the juncture of pop and
experimental. Even now, years later, the LP remains an
urgent and fitting introduction to a push-and-pull that would
go on to inform the duo's sound - a thoughtful headiness
that also wants you to get out on the dance floor. A blend of
analog and digital, Meath and Sanborn were two
unexpected puzzle pieces fitting together with singular
ease, producing a ten-track LP that was both minimalist and
shimmering, with dark undulations rippling beneath the
synthy-surface and crystalline quality of Meath's voice.
Before all of the international touring and festival headlining
and critical acclaim and Grammy nominations, Sylvan Esso
was just a shot-in-the dark of musical chemistry gone right.
The original album bio for the self-titled presciently sets the
stage for the thesis that has gone on to guide Meath and
Sanborn's writing since then: "a collection of vivid
addictions concerning suffering and love, darkness and
deliverance" arriving as "a necessary pop balm, an album
stuffed with songs that don't suffer the longstanding
complications of that term." And so, even as the band
continues to evolve and becomes amorphous, there's still
that argument about what pop can be at it's core. This is just
the beginning of that conversation captured on tape.
In honor of the record's ten year anniversary, North
Carolina-based indie label Psychic Hotline will release a
deluxe reissue, complete with previously unreleased
material. Featuring essential singles "Coffee", "Hey Mami,"
and "H.S.K.T.", the expanded edition also includes remixes
from J Rocc, Rick Wade, Helado Negro, Dntel, and more.
The deluxe 2LP package sports an all-over foil inversion of
the original album's iconic foil "SE" logo.
