Blindside

Sister Grotto is Madeline Johnston, who lives in Denver and makes minimal, immersive, droning, hypnotic longform music that she calls “soft gaze.” She writes that Blindside is about “internalizing new feelings of loss.” These two side-length pieces are peaceful, subtle, and beautiful, but they're anchored by quiet grief. There's a sense that the music could slip into the ether at any moment, or that you as a listener could disappear with it. Consoling and understatedly powerful, this might be my favorite release of 2016 so far. No FCCs.

1. (18:40)—The song. Pillowy, rippling, piano-like tones underpin a wash of ghostly, quiet layers: whispered singing, soft distorted synth keys, peaceful cymbal, calm drones.
2. (18:19)—The drone. Flowing and ebbing, slightly muted, gleaming in the way that the sun looks from a couple feet underwater. Picks up in intensity gradually.