DM Stith has always gone under the radar. In fact, he almost slipped under our radar too - we wouldn't know about him if it weren't for a music blog, one of the hundreds of music blogs out there back in 2009, that happened to post one of his tracks. But that one track was enough - "Pity Dance" was a sample of his art good enough to convince anyone with a decent set of ears that this was someone with bags of talent. The track quickly became a huge favourite in our household and so did the exceptional debut album that followed it, Heavy Ghost. The thing is, few other people seemed to notice.
New music from the Buffalo, NY musician came scarcely over the following years, in-between working as a graphic designer and visual artist which had been his original craft, and was met with the same indifference by punters. His second album, Pigeonheart, came out in 2016, taking his sound towards a more subdued, keyboard-driven direction. Still, people didn't notice.
His third album, Fata Morgana, arrived in April and is his most sonically ambitious work yet. Despite coming 7 years after Pigeonheart, it seems like a natural progression from that album's palette, but with a much richer, fuller sound. Producer (and pianist) Thomas Bartlett has worked with a wide range of artists, including Sufjan Stevens, with whom Stith used to work as a designer and then signee on his Asthmatic Kitty label. And that's not the only long-time friend Stith has enlisted to help him - his old collaborator My Brightest Diamond guests on our favourite song of the album, the 6-minute epic "In the Gloom", and Thor Harris also makes an appearance.
Stith's gift for instrumentation has been present since his beginnings, and here, with the help of Bartlett, it's been augmented and highlighted throughout. Rolling pianos and a wider range of keyboard sounds have been added to Stith's usual sonic arsenal, along with his trademark spidery harmonies and acoustic guitars. The meticulous layering of all these elements creates a more 3-dimensional sound than ever before, with tiny details delightfully peeking out of the shadows here and there, which however never feels too heavy or dense.
The songs benefit from it and really shine, and Stith seems like he's at his most self-assured here. His themes haven't changed much - the exploration of the human condition and what lies beyond, or within, are always present, and even the album title refers to a mirage taking its name from a mythical witch - but moving away from New York seems to have given him more confidence and ease. Or maybe he just knows that he has a great set of songs: the celestial "Uranian Love Song", the claustrophobic, nervously beautiful "Fidget Spinner", the minor-key build-up of "Dodges & Feints", the floating "The Oracle", pretty much every song here is really strong, carried by his gentle, Cat-Stevens-meets-Nick-Drake voice. And the aforementioned "In the Gloom" is just a thing of beauty.
DM Stith has gone under the radar for way too long. This is a wonderful album that deserves to be heard and should finally put him on the map.
(8.5/10)
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