Charity Empressa

Blue Tint Magazine

It is a project that was years in the making. Eric Campuzano, whose credits include The Prayer Chain, Starflyer 59, The Lassie Foundation, and Cush, has provided yet another piece of gorgeous ear candy. With help from the Frank Lenz Foundation, Campuzano gives listeners a disc of drone-filled ballads.

With swirling guitars, phantom drums, and melodic keyboards, Charity Empressa sounds like a relative of yesterday's Dark Side of the Moon. Mixing his spacey music with guest vocals from Wayne Everett of The Prayer Chain, Matt Kelly of The Autumns, Jason Martin of Starflyer 59, and Troy Daugherty of Duraluxe, as well as guest musician Herb Grimaud Jr. of The Violet Burning, Campuzano brings together artists in brilliant form.

The album circles through shifting musical patterns. Matt Kelly's "Future King of England" suggests Radiohead, while "Shake Your Money Maker," which borrows from the Albert Francis Trio, evokes memories of Moby's Play. The album ends with the pop-minded "Kool Kids and Rok and Roll."

Campuzano and Frank Lenz of Fold Zandura and Cush have put together a musical work that adventurous listeners should consider. It may take a full listen to understand the album's direction, but Charity Empressa is rewarding.

— Ryan, Blue Tint Magazine

Tonevendor

Let's play with some mental imagery. Eric Campuzano, the man behind Charity Empressa, is probably best known for his work with The Lassie Foundation. That band's airy, post-shoegazer pop can feel like standing high on a sunlit mountain ledge, looking down at the vastness below. Charity Empressa's music, while intricate in its own way, is based on the enveloping drone of a single note, slowing time to a crawl. It is like pushing away from that ledge and diving, arms wide open, into the sky.

Campuzano clearly created Charity Empressa to describe and fill vast spaces. Recorded over three years, this self-titled album is a series of grand constructions: flowing, ambient pieces that slip through the constraints of pop-song structure. Rather than traveling directly from one point to another, the compositions explore a single idea from every angle until it feels transformed.

This kind of music might seem destined to be entirely instrumental, but Campuzano works vocals into several tracks. In doing so, he turns glittering, celestial pieces into hazy hymns. "Future King of England" revels in a pristine, church-like atmosphere. "May the Good Lord Find You" and "Shake Your Money Maker" hint at a closer connection to rock music; the latter uses a sampled vocal.

The closing "Kool Kids and Rok and Roll" is close to a Lassie Foundation song with the effects pedals turned up higher. Startlingly catchy after the deconstructed rhythms of the previous ten songs, it should appeal to fans of Spiritualized and the Beta Band.

The album's materials suggest that Campuzano approached the project with a Christian perspective, but the music is not heavy-handed. It is meditative and expansive, equally capable of holding a listener's attention whether they are thinking about faith, the natural world, or something else entirely.

The question is whether you can settle into its pace. Charity Empressa is not active music, nor is it conventional meditation music. The vocals, beats, and occasionally unsettling passages can pull you out of any peaceful reverie. It is an album to lie around with on a slow morning, or to put on after a long, tiring day: a mild aural intoxicant with an off switch.

— Tonevendor

Almost Cool

A project three years in the making, Charity Empressa is the work of Eric Campuzano of The Lassie Foundation and numerous guest artists. As an exercise in drone, it could be described as an aural narcotic. Some passages recall Spiritualized, others suggest older 4AD artists, and still others bring to mind releases on Kranky. Its 11 tracks amount to nearly an hour of music, though the experience can feel longer. For some listeners that will be part of its appeal; for others, it may be a drawback.

The opening track, "Are We There Yet?," brings a touch of humor through its title. Layers of droning keyboards, gently strummed guitars, and chimes build slowly across nearly eight minutes. Just when a rhythm seems ready to carry the piece somewhere new, it fades away. "Carew" follows with a droning, jazz-like feel, its lonely horns mingling with repeating guitars and keyboards.

Vocals arrive on "Future King of England" courtesy of The Autumns' Matthew Kelly. His falsetto floats over the minimal background. One of the album's strongest tracks, "May the Good Lord Find You," combines tabla-like rhythms, layered guitar feedback, and uplifting vocals.

"Shake Your Money Maker" stands out for its comparatively clear structure and its blend of twang, world-music rhythms, and drone. The vocal sample might sound out of place without the guitar textures that surround it.

The rest of the album continues to explore drone and noise without collapsing into a wall of sound. The lengthy "Give 'Em Hell" shifts and changes across its ten minutes. The shorter "Cool as Cranes" and "Breathing Is Good" contain some of the album's most haunting textures; the latter recalls This Mortal Coil.

This is not music for a moment when you need to concentrate on another task. When you want to let an album drift around you, though, Charity Empressa works beautifully. As an early full-length release from Absalom Recordings, it is another solid step for the label.

— Almost Cool