''Perfect Vision'' is the eighth solo album by
Thalia Zedek
Thalia Zedek (born 1961) is an American singer and guitarist. Active since the early 1980s, she has been a member of several notable alternative rock groups, including Live Skull and Uzi (band), Uzi both of which, according to ''Spin (magazine) ...
, released on August 27, 2021, three years after ''
Fighting Season''.
Background
Released by
Thrill Jockey on August 27, 2021, three years after her previous solo album ''
Fighting Season'', ''Perfect Vision'' was recorded in late 2020 to early 2021 at Machines with Magnets, in
Pawtucket, Rhode Island
Pawtucket is a city in Providence County, Rhode Island, United States. The population was 75,604 at the 2020 census, making the city the fourth-largest in the state. Pawtucket borders Providence and East Providence to the south, Central Falls ...
. Zedek's fifth solo album to be credited to the Thalia Zedek Band, ''Perfect Vision'' was
recorded and
mixed by producer Seth Manchester and
mastered by Sarah Register.
Whilst the material in Zedek's previous album ''Fighting Season'' "was written leading up to and following the 2016 U.S. elections", which contributed to the political themes of many of its songs,
Zedek and Manchester finished working on ''Perfect Vision'' on January 6, 2021, as the
United States Capitol in
Washington, D.C.
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
was being
violently attacked by a mob of supporters of President
Donald Trump
Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021.
Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pe ...
, resulting again in an album that is at points not only overtly political but one that, as Jared Dix reviewing it for ''Echoes and Dust'' states, "may even be angrier than the last album, ''Fighting Season''".
"Tolls" features fellow
Thrill Jockey artist
Alison Chesley
Alison Chesley (born January 4, 1960), known also by her stage name Helen Money, is a Chicago-based cellist and composer.
Chesley was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. She moved to Chicago to attend Northwestern University, where she ...
, also known as Helen Money, on cello and piano.
Critical reception
On
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...
, the album has a weighted average score of 71 out of 100, based on four critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".
Jennifer Kelly, in her review of the album for ''Dusted'' magazine, declared that ''Perfect Vision'', "
ke all
f Zedek'sworks,
..exudes a brute, persistent strength that will not yield, no matter what happens". Kelly then went on to state that "
healbum presents an artist who has had all the time life affords to figure out how she wants to sound and all the support that long-time collaborators can bring to realizing her ideas. Every sound fits, without sounding in the least bit fussed over or premeditated."
AllMusic
AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...
's review of the album, penned by Mark Deming, suggested that "
en more than ''Fighting Season'', ''Perfect Vision'' is art that offers a hard but honest look at the world and the times that gave it life, and its evocative power will still speak clearly long after other crises have replaced those keeping Zedek awake in 2021."
Track listing
Personnel
Thalia Zedek Band
*
Thalia Zedek
Thalia Zedek (born 1961) is an American singer and guitarist. Active since the early 1980s, she has been a member of several notable alternative rock groups, including Live Skull and Uzi (band), Uzi both of which, according to ''Spin (magazine) ...
– electric guitars, vocals
* Winston Braman – bass guitar
*
David Michael Curry
David (; , "beloved one") (traditional spelling), , ''Dāwūd''; grc-koi, Δαυΐδ, Dauíd; la, Davidus, David; gez , ዳዊት, ''Dawit''; xcl, Դաւիթ, ''Dawitʿ''; cu, Давíдъ, ''Davidŭ''; possibly meaning "beloved one". w ...
– viola
* Gavin McCarthy – drums
Additional musicians
*
Mel Lederman
Mel, Mels or MEL may refer to:
Biology
* Mouse erythroleukemia cell line (MEL)
* National Herbarium of Victoria, a herbarium with the Index Herbariorum code MEL
People
* Mel (given name), the abbreviated version of several given names (including ...
– piano on "Binoculars"
*
Brian Carpenter – trumpet on "From the Fire"
*
Karen Sarkisian –
pedal steel guitar
The pedal steel guitar is a Console steel guitar, console-type of steel guitar with pedals and knee levers that change the pitch of certain strings to enable playing more varied and complex music than any previous steel guitar design. Like all s ...
on "Cranes"
*
Alison Chesley
Alison Chesley (born January 4, 1960), known also by her stage name Helen Money, is a Chicago-based cellist and composer.
Chesley was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. She moved to Chicago to attend Northwestern University, where she ...
– cello and piano on "Smoked" and "Tolls"
Production
* Thalia Zedek –
front cover photo
* Heather Kapplow –
back cover photo
* Dan Zedek – design
* Seth Manchester –
recording and
mixing
* Sarah Register –
mastering
References
{{Authority control
Thalia Zedek albums
Blues rock albums by American artists
2021 albums