Headache Sorbet. Alicia Breton Ferrer

Only two years ago, Alicia Breton Ferrer, was someone I had never heard of. Since, she has found her way into these pages with the band The Sweet Release of Death, then with the band Neighbours Burning Neighbours and now as a solo artist. That is three different guises for one singer/bassplayer/guitarist. It may well be that without corona the world would never had heard the songs on Headache Sorbet, but is the richer for it.

Headache Sorbet is the result of home recordings, poor neighbours I can't help thinking every once in a while. An amalgam of sounds, noises, instruments and experiments come by, in some ways turned into something resembling songs. Not songs that through the decades found their way into the Top 40s of the world, with the exception of 'Oh, Superman', but music that people delving quite a little deeper in released music will find attractive to explore.

Because exploring is the right word for the quest Alicia Breton Ferrer sends her listeners on. I'm just not quite sure what the holy grail in this quest is made up of. The answer is, that there's no need for a price. Appreciating or learning to appreciate Headache Sorbet is price enough. It allows you to backtrack the adventure she put herself on, being in isolation from both her bands, from performing. Music is was she does and it came out of her, of course it did.

On the basis of a single released a few weeks ago, I had never expected to like Headache Sorbet. That as such is not new, I had to find my way into her two bands as well, and did. Where I gave up on the single within a minute, I decided at the same time to give the album a serious chance. It paid out.

Headache Sorbet is far from an easy album. For a few reasons. Rhythms are experimental. I even believe an old-fashioned typewriter was used in one of the songs to create the rhythm. From there it's possible to experiment further. There are no straightforward songs in earshot. The melodies are halting, incapacitated even. Were I asked to compare 'Red Alert' to anything, it would be an abstract COBRA painting. On it something faintly resembling a bird or tree hidden in between the thick swaths of paint. In the same vein instruments and sounds were thrown into the mix, faintly resembling a song, hidden somewhere in there. Because of the ending De Kift springs to mind. A weird rhythm over a bizarre guitar riff, but where De Kift ends its experimental music, Alicia Breton Ferrer begins..

Iggy Promo photo

So why do I like Headache Sorbet? I have been racking my brain over that question but do not have an answer for you that truly explains it. I would start with that I'm fascinated by the sounds and how they interact with each other. How within this abstract environment interesting pieces of music come together. That the mood on the album as a whole challenges me to pay more attention than the album at first listen merits. Above all, because I have the impression that when making this album, if that idea was there at all at the start, there were no rules. All was open, possible and accepted only when it fitted a slowly emerging bigger picture. That bigger picture now is out in the open and challenges, attracts, pushes away, attracts again..

I hope this helps you a little, dear reader, but you will have to undergo your own adventure and challenge, as Headache Sorbet is both. All sounds except cat Iggy and the flute were played or created by Alicia Breton Ferrer, so this is truly her album.

Although it's easy to predict you will stop listen quite soon within 'Nosebleed', that would be the easy way out. I found that the adventure does lead to musical satisfaction, making Headache Sorbet a very interesting album to follow, undoubtedly containing dozens of surprises that will unfold long after these first listening sessions.

Wout de Natris

You can listen to and order Headache Sorbet here:

https://aliciabretonferrer.bandcamp.com/releases

or listen to our Spotify Playlist to find out what we are writing about:

https://open.spotify.com/user/glazu53/playlist/6R9FgPd2btrMuMaIrYeCh6?si=KI6LzLaAS5K-wsez5oSO2g