Domes

Looping cello compositions that evoke snow-capped mountains, coastal cliffs, fog, and the crash of surf against rocks. This is the first instrumental album from Broderick, who is based in Portland, Oregon, and is more known for her slowcore/ambient-folk/dream pop songs and for her work backing Sharon Van Etten. Full of rich harmonies and liberal with reverb, these pieces are sublime: not just beautiful but also a little vertigo-inducing. RIYL A Winged Victory for the Sullen, Julianna Barwick, Stars of the Lid, Christina Vantzou, Eluvium. Favorites: 1, 2, 5, though all are great. No words, no FCCs.

1. *(9:17)—Suspenseful, rolling slowly between two chords.
2. *(5:39)—Triumphant, with skittering higher tones.
3. (5:29)—Winding melody, an insistent pulse, a second sinuous cello line.
4. (6:10)—Dense, charged-sounding drone in G.
5. *(4:47)—Desolate-sounding, tense, seesawing from a minor chord to a major and back.
6. (5:17)—Begins faded and distant, uneasy, increasingly distorted.
7. (3:39)—The gentlest piece of the group, the one that leaves the most space for silences, though still with a dramatic build.