Description
Some people want every record. Like I have a friend who buys all the Blue Note Tone Poets. Some he doesn’t even open (he hates Chet Baker and vibraphones) but he is dedicated to the complete set. Or there are people who intend to buy every record that MF DOOM raps on, people who buy the Australian pressing of a CDEP by The Fall because it has a different edit of the bonus track. I am not like this. I just want the ones that mean the most to me, which is usually the ones that aren’t interchangeable. Decide Which Way the Eyes Are Looking is maybe the least interchangeable record I can think of? It creates a mood that’s immediate but careful, meandering but with a fierce spirit. I don’t know any records that sound like it, but not in the way that The Incapacitants or Amps For Christ don’t sound like anything else. It’s not about extremity or alienness. It’s about combination, patience, trust. There are a lot of instruments on this record, harp and euphonium and flute and violin. Everyone who contributes to Decide Which Way plays with such ease and bravery. One of my favorite spaces made by music is that noble earnestness you get with Maher Shalal Hash Baz, and this record works toward a similar place. But I think Lina got there from the opposite direction as Tori Kudo. There’s so much familiarity and expertise on Decide Which Way that it surpasses chops or virtuosity. It’s like every note on it has been asked the question “what’s the most honest you can sound?” and answered in melody.
Released 2025 by Post Present Medium
Edition of 500, black vinyl, with lyric insert
