Drawing the Target Around the Arrow explained

Drawing the Target Around the Arrow
Type:studio
Artist:CEP
Cover:drawing the target around the arrow.jpg
Released:January 19, 2017
Recorded:2012–2016
Length:60:41
Label:Pannonica
Producer:Caroline Polachek
Prev Title:Arcadia
Prev Year:2014
Next Title:Pang
Next Year:2019

Drawing the Target Around the Arrow is the second album by American singer-songwriter and producer Caroline Polachek, her only one under the name CEP. It is Polachek's first release since the breakup of her band Chairlift just one month prior. The project was released on January 19, 2017 by Pannonica, (an imprint of Bella Union), as a surprise album. The album was announced by a tweet on January 18, and the album was released as a free download the next day.[1] The album was promoted with a concert at National Sawdust with a twelve-person vocal choir.[2]

Composition

Drawing the Target Around the Arrow differs from Polachek's earlier work in that it consists solely of minimal instrumental tracks. Polachek crafted the album using raw sine waves, as she had been growing bored of how "genre-specific" music had become and wanted to strip it down to its basic parts. She was also drawn to the idea of creating "useful" music to wake up or do work to. The album's title comes from 18th century Jewish Lithuanian preacher Dubno maggid, in explaining how he comes up with his fables. As Polachek summarized, "It's about honoring your impulses and working with what you have in front of you."[2]

Critical reception

Thea Ballard of Pitchfork called the composition "generally unobtrusive, and the individual tracks often run together" and that "perhaps the most satisfying aspect of this release is its definitively non-linguistic form of expression".

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Download Caroline Polachek's Free Surprise Instrumental Album Drawing The Target Around The Arrow. Stereogum. Breihan. Tom. January 19, 2017. January 5, 2021.
  2. Web site: Caroline Polachek on making work that's useful. The Creative Independent. Stosuy. Brandon. January 19, 2017. January 5, 2021.