Fatigue (album) explained

Fatigue
Type:studio
Artist:L'Rain
Cover:Fatigue (album).jpg
Released:June 25, 2021
Recorded:2018–2019
Length:29:55
Label:Mexican Summer
Producer:
  • Taja Cheek
  • Andrew Lappin
Prev Title:L'Rain
Prev Year:2017
Next Title:I Killed Your Dog
Next Year:2023

Fatigue is the second record by Brooklyn-based experimental musician Taja Cheek, under the moniker of L'Rain. It is her first recording with record label Mexican Summer. Fatigue builds on Cheek's experimental compositional approach, drawing from an eclectic collection of genres and employing field recording elements. Instrumentally, it has help from twenty collaborators, who lend the record clavinet, saxophone, and more.

Upon its release, Fatigue was greeted with rave reviews. It was named the best album of the year by British magazine The Wire.[1]

Background

Taja Cheek planned on naming her second record Suck Teeth because she "loved how it encapsulated a very black sound of disapproval, annoyance, and disappointment."[2]

Composition

Fatigue has musical footing in experimental pop, as well as orchestral pop.[3] However, the record contains diverse songs that bend genre. Ambient music, gospel, jazz, post-punk, neo soul, R&B, shoegazing, soft rock and sound collage have all been melded into L'Rain's own aesthetic.[4] [5]

Fatigue makes significant use of field recordings.[5] The latter half of "Find It" samples a pastor singing at a funeral Cheek attended. "Black Clap" has sounds from a hand game she created alongside co-producer and multi-instrumentalist Ben Chapoteau-Katz. About it, she said that "in the studio, I was thinking about ways that play can improve your life, and I was like, 'I'll just make up a hand game, because that's something I used to do when I was a kid.'"

It is also shaded in psychedelia,[3] [6] with its songs working in neo-psychedelia. Psychedelic musicians like Syd Barrett and quartet Animal Collective have been noted as spiritual touchstones for L'Rain's music.[3] L'Rain has cited the latter's early recordings as informative to her.[7]

The second song, "Find It", digs into "warped, genre-mashing" pop-soul and "sweet, distorted" shoegaze pop.[3] Experimentation continues even when songs dip into conventional pop and dance sounds, like on "Kill Self" and "Two Face". The latter song's R&B yields a "heady cacophony".[8]

Critical reception

Fatigue was welcomed with critical applause upon its release. On Metacritic, the record holds a score of 86 out of 100, based on seven reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".

Paul Simpson for AllMusic applauded the record, seeing it as "even bolder and dreamier than [her] self-titled debut" and "a uniquely powerful expression of her uncompromising vision." Aymeric Dubois for The Line of Best Fit called it "reflective and exposing...a transformative listen".

Accolades

Semester-end lists

USBandcamp DailyFatigueThe Best Albums of Spring 2021
PasteThe 10 Best Albums of June 2021
"Suck Teeth"The 15 Best Songs of June 2021
UKThe QuietusFatigueThe Quietus Albums Of The Year So Far Chart 2021

Year-end lists

CountryPublicationWorkListRank
USAllMusicFatigueAllMusic Best of 2021
Bandcamp DailyBest of 2021: The Year's Essential Releases
UKCrack MagazineThe Top 50 Albums of the Year
Our CultureThe 50 Best Albums of 2021
USPaste
Pitchfork
The Best Jazz and Experimental Music of 2021
"Find It"The 100 Best Songs of 2021
UKThe QuietusFatigueQuietus Albums Of The Year 2021
Rough TradeUS Albums of The Year 2021
USTrebleThe 50 Best Albums of 2021
"Two Face"The 100 Best Songs of 2021
UKThe WireFatigueRewind

Top 50 Releases of 2021

Personnel

Adapted from the record's Bandcamp page.[9]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: The Wire's Releases of the Year 2021 . The Wire . 16 March 2022.
  2. Web site: L'Rain – "Suck Teeth". James Rettig. June 9, 2021. Stereogum. July 21, 2021.
  3. Web site: L'Rain creates glittering, warped pop collages on Fatigue. Noah Berlatsky. June 1, 2021. Chicago Reader. June 1, 2021.
  4. Web site: L'Rain - Fatigue · Album Review. Kiana Mickles. July 8, 2021. Resident Advisor. July 8, 2021.
  5. Web site: L'Rain's 'Fatigue' Captures the Everyday Nuances of Black Life. Marcus J. Moore. June 24, 2021. Bandcamp Daily. July 16, 2021.
  6. Web site: Review: L'Rain's 'Fatigue'. Brian Kiwanuka. July 6, 2021. PostGenre. July 7, 2021.
  7. Web site: L'Rain Wants to Confuse You. Jenn Pelly. June 28, 2021. Pitchfork. July 7, 2021.
  8. Web site: The Quietus - Reviews - L'Rain. Georgie Brook. June 25, 2021. The Quietus. July 8, 2021.
  9. Web site: Fatigue by L'Rain. Bandcamp. June 29, 2021.