{"title":"Loma","description":"","products":[{"product_id":"loma_loma","title":"Loma","description":"\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eLoma's\renigmatic debut feels beautifully adrift in time and space.  It's an album\rthat takes you to a place you've never been, with a rare confidence in the\rstrength of its own vision.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eThough\rit was recorded off a dirt road in rural Texas, there's no hint of country\rhere: from the first airy notes of \"Who Is Speaking?\" to the decaying\rchoir of \"Black Willow,\" Loma create a hypnotic world of their own,\rwhere rustling leaves, fuzzed-out basses, panting dogs, prepared pianos, and a\rwilderness of percussion form a backdrop for Emily Cross's translucent voice.\r She's a steady, clear-eyed presence throughout, even among the\rheart-pounding pulses of \"Relay Runner\", the skittering drums of\r\"Dark Oscillations\" and the galloping release of \"Joy\"; in\rsparer songs like \"Shadow Relief\" and the haunting \"I Don't Want\rChildren,\" she's a fearless ally, swimming calmly with you against a\rpowerful undertow.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003ci\u003eLoma\r\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan\u003eis inviting but\ralso beautifully self-contained, like a dream that stays with you all day.\rThere's something here for lovers of Nina Nastasia or Broadcast, but also Linda\rThompson, or The Silver Apples—even early Pink Floyd. But most of all, this\rarresting and mysterious album marks the arrival of a band whose first steps\ralready feel timeless. \u003ci\u003e Loma\u003c\/i\u003e was recorded by the group at Dandy\rSounds Studios in Dripping Springs, Texas and mastered by Greg Calbi at\rSterling Sound.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\r\r\r\r\r\r\r\r\r\r\r\r\r\r\r\r\r\r\r\r\r\r\r\r\r\r\r\r\r\r\r\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eLoma\ris Emily Cross and Dan Duszynski (\u003ca title=\"Link: http:\/\/www.crossrecord.com\/\" href=\"http:\/\/www.crossrecord.com\/\"\u003eCross Record\u003c\/a\u003e), and Jonathan Meiburg (\u003ca title=\"Link: http:\/\/www.subpop.com\/artists\/shearwater\" href=\"http:\/\/www.subpop.com\/artists\/shearwater\"\u003eShearwater\u003c\/a\u003e).\r\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Loma","offers":[{"title":"LP","offer_id":31826456772704,"sku":"712141","price":23.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD","offer_id":31826456805472,"sku":"712142","price":12.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Digital","offer_id":32556515360864,"sku":"712146","price":10.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0110\/1882\/9920\/products\/loma-cover-3000.jpg?v=1581649145"},{"product_id":"loma_dont-shy-away","title":"Don't Shy Away","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003c\/b\u003eOn December 26th, 2018, Emily Cross received an excited email from a friend: Brian Eno was talking about her band on BBC radio. “At first I didn’t think it was real,” she admits. But then she heard a recording: Eno was praising “Black Willow” from Loma’s \u003ca title=\"Link: https:\/\/megamart.subpop.com\/releases\/loma\/loma\" href=\"https:\/\/megamart.subpop.com\/releases\/loma\/loma\"\u003eself-titled debut\u003c\/a\u003e, a song whose minimal groove and hypnotic refrain seem as much farewell as a manifesto: I make my bed beside the road \/ I carry a diamond blade \/ I will not serve you. He said he’d had it on repeat.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAt the time, a second Loma album seemed unlikely. The band began as a serendipitous collaboration between Cross, the multi-talented musician and recording engineer Dan Duszynski, and Shearwater frontman Jonathan Meiburg, who wanted to play a supporting role after years at the microphone. They’d capped a grueling tour with a standout performance on a packed beach at Sub Pop’s SPF 30 festival, in which Cross leapt into the crowd, and then into the sea, while the band carried on from the stage—an emotional peak that also felt like a natural ending. “It was the biggest audience we’d ever had,” she says. “We thought, why not stop here?”   \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFollowing the tour, Cross went to rural Mexico to work on visual art and a solo record, while Meiburg began a new Shearwater effort. But after a few months apart (and Eno’s encouraging words), the trio changed their minds and reconvened at Duszynski’s home in rural Texas, where they began to develop songs that would become Don’t Shy Away. Loma writes by consensus, and though Cross is always the singer, she, Duszynski and Meiburg often trade instruments.  Meiburg compares their process to using a ouija board, and says the songs revealed themselves slowly, over many months. “Each of us is a very strong flavor,” he says, “but in Loma, nobody wears the crown, so we have to trust each other—and we end up in places none of us would have gone on our own. I think we all wanted to experience that again.” The album that emerged is gently spectacular—a vivid work whose light touch belies its timely themes of solitude, impermanence, and finding light in deep darkness. Stuck \/ beneath \/ a rock, Cross begins, as if noticing her predicament for the first time. Then she adds: I begin to see \/ the beauty in it. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIt’s a couplet that evokes the album in miniature. Don’t Shy Away is shot through with revelations, both joyful (“Given a Sign”) and sober (the clear-eyed title track), and winds from moment to moment with confidence and humor. Like Loma’s first effort, there’s a tangible and sensuous feeling of place; insects sing in the trees, an ill-fitting door creaks in the wind. But there’s also a daring and hard-won wisdom, underlined by Cross’s benevolent clarinet, which often sounds like an extension of her singing voice. “Ocotillo”’s desert landscape unreels into a blazing sun; “Elliptical Days” seems to ascend endlessly like Escher’s circling monks; the jubilant “Breaking Waves Like a Stone” appears out of a haze of synthesizers that pulse like fireflies. A series of guests wander through these absorbing soundscapes, including touring members Emily Lee (piano, violin) and Matt Schuessler (bass), Flock of Dimes\/Wye Oak’s Jenn Wasner, and a surprisingly bass-heavy horn section. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAnd then there’s Brian Eno. Loma invited him to participate in the mantra-like “Homing,” which concludes the album, and sent him stems  to interact with in any way he liked. He never spoke directly with the band, but his completed mix arrived via e-mail late one night, without warning, and they gathered to listen in the converted bedroom Duszynski uses as a control room. “I was a little worried,” says Cross. “What if we didn’t like it?” But it was all they’d hoped for: minimal but enveloping, friendly but enigmatic, as much Loma as Eno—a perfect ending to an album about finding a new home inside an old one.  I am somewhere that you know, Cross sings, above a chorus of her bandmates’ blended voices. I am right behind your eyes. \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Loma","offers":[{"title":"LP","offer_id":32615743193184,"sku":"713661","price":13.8,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD","offer_id":32615743225952,"sku":"713662","price":12.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Digital","offer_id":32615743258720,"sku":"713666","price":10.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0110\/1882\/9920\/products\/loma-dontshyaway-2400px.jpg?v=1619653488"},{"product_id":"loma_going-out","title":"Going Out","description":"\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\" data-mce-style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eLoma’s Dan Duszynski says of the song, “Songs are like cats—sometimes they just pick you. Emily and I first heard \"Going Out\" while we were playing at a record store in Austin a few years ago. I went to the counter to ask who it was, and the album (Dinner’s \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\" data-mce-style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eThree EPs) \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\" data-mce-style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eis still in rotation at our home\/studio. We couldn't resist making our own version because it always cheers us up.  Who doesn't need that right now?\"  \u003c\/span\u003e","brand":"Loma","offers":[{"title":"Digital","offer_id":39338364076128,"sku":"714626","price":1.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0110\/1882\/9920\/products\/loma-goingout-4000x4000.jpg?v=1626459181"},{"product_id":"loma_how-will-i-live-without-a-body","title":"How Will I Live Without a Body?","description":"\u003cp\u003e“this is how it starts\u003cbr\u003eto move again”\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eJanuary 2023, Dorset. Snow is piled at the door, icy roads are closed, and Emily Cross is in a coffin. Not a setting typical for a rebirth. But for Loma, this is where they bring their band back from the brink.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“It's like a demon enters the room, whenever we get together”, writer, singer and instrumentalist Cross says of the struggle to bring new Loma music into the world. Following the release of their 2020 second album Don’t Shy Away, Loma’s three members were cast around the globe and the band—not for the first time—entered a deep sleep. Multi-instrumentalist and recording engineer Dan Duszynski remained in his studio in Don’t Shy Away’s central Texas heart, but Cross, a UK citizen, moved to Dorset, and writer and instrumentalist Jonathan Meiburg left the US for Germany to research a book. In the pandemic years, even being in the same room was impossible, and attempts to start a new record faltered.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"We got lost,\" admits Meiburg, \"and stayed that way for a long time.” The trio's personal lives diverged, and remote sessions didn't gel; a post-pandemic reunion in Texas was cut to a few frustrating days by an illness, and a pile of half-finished tracks was an unruly mess. The following winter, in an attempt to salvage the record and the band, Cross suggested they regroup in the UK, in the tiny stone house—once a coffin-maker’s workshop—where she works as an end-of-life doula. With minimal recording gear and few instruments, Loma turned two whitewashed rooms into a makeshift studio, using a padded coffin as a vocal booth.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIt was a turning point. \"There was a sense of, well, this is it,\" Meiburg recalls. \"And I had my doubts, especially when that ice storm swept in; I thought, here we go again.  But sitting in our heavy coats around a little electric radiator, we realized how much we'd missed each other—and that just being together was precious.”  \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThey scrapped much of what they'd made, letting a new place set a new course. The first two Loma albums feature the sounds of Texan animals and landscapes, and the one-lane roads, hedgerows and dark skies of Dorset gave the new songs an ineffable but unmistakable Englishness. The band used the ruin of a 12th-century chapel as a reverb chamber—surprising hillwalkers who peeked in to find them singing to no one—and the sounds of Cross’s chilly workshop wormed their way into the recording: a leaky pipe, a drummer’s brushes on a metal lampshade, the voices left on an ancient answering machine.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhat emerged was How Will I Live Without A Body?: a gorgeous, unique, and oddly comforting album about partnership, loss, regeneration, and fighting the feeling that we're all in this alone. Many of its songs have a feeling of restless motion; faceless characters drift through meetings and partings, tangling together and slipping away. ‘I Swallowed A Stone’ is like a nightmare with a happy ending; ‘How It Starts’ and ‘Broken Doorbell’ reflect on the challenge (and necessity) of wrestling with agoraphobia.  Though the record nods to the trio’s separate lives— a German percussion ensemble, a pair of Texan owls, and the surf at Chesil Beach make guest appearances—the core of Loma's sound remains intact: earthy, organic and deeply human, anchored by Cross's cool, clear voice.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMost artists want their records to be listened to as a whole. But with Loma, it’s particularly rewarding, and How Will I Live Without A Body? reveals itself more with every listen. Songs that begin as riddles swim into focus when listened to in sequence; images return and interact in unexpected ways, and something like a narrative begins to form. It’s also a record of two distinct halves. A compelling sense of wandering engulfs the A-side, as the trudging progress of opener ‘Please, Come In’ staggers and sways through succeeding tracks to the album’s centerpiece, ‘How It Starts’—which gathers strength and purpose, flooding the B-side with a hope that embraces darkness without surrendering to it.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eLoma’s previous album, Don’t Shy Away, was galvanised by the unexpected encouragement (and eventual contributions) of Brian Eno. This time, they found inspiration in another hero, Laurie Anderson, who offered a chance to work with an AI trained on her entire body of work. Meiburg sent her a photo from his book-in-progress about the once and future life of Antarctica; Anderson’s AI responded with two haunting poems. “We used parts of them in a few songs,” he says. “And then Dan noticed that one of its lines, “How will I live without a body?” would be a perfect name for the album, since we nearly lost sight of each other in the recording process.” Anderson, Meiburg adds, was happy for the band to use the title. “I think she was tickled that her AI doppelganger is running around naming other people’s records.”\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan id=\"docs-internal-guid-06c8be0d-7fff-04db-51fb-6e7c34d29bba\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBut in the end, Loma’s efforts to reconnect with one another are the album's central focus: what do you owe a shared past, when everyone and everything has changed? “Making this record tested us all,” says Duszynski. “I think that feeling was alchemized through the music.”  Alchemized, because How Will I Live Without A Body? is by no means a stressed-out record: an undercurrent of deep calm runs through it. “Somehow, out of the chaos, we made something that sounds very relaxed,” Cross notes, mystified. But maybe ‘relaxed’ isn’t the right word. It’s more like a feeling of relief, of making it through a tough journey together. “I've never run a marathon,” Cross says. “But I can imagine it's kind of what that feels like.” This is how it starts, to move again.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Loma","offers":[{"title":"Loser (color) LP","offer_id":40606021353568,"sku":"714740","price":23.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD","offer_id":40606021386336,"sku":"714742","price":12.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Digital","offer_id":40606021419104,"sku":"714746","price":10.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0110\/1882\/9920\/files\/Loma_HWILWAB_MockUp_LP_US_2000x1417_ec90ab9c-f3d7-4702-bae4-e70678207f89.jpg?v=1712878284"}],"url":"https:\/\/megamart.subpop.com\/collections\/loma\/color-white.oembed","provider":"Sub Pop Mega Mart","version":"1.0","type":"link"}