Another strong female voice has been found on piano in Lia Ices’ debut, Necima. A student of NYU’s Tisch School in the Experimental Theatre Wing, Ices delivers some sweet, sweet melody that only gets greater when she goes grander. In fact, Necima might have been stronger had she been even more bold.
Ices is really helped out by her guest-spot supporting players, like David Muller (Fiery Furnaces), Andy Macleod (White Magic, Bright Black), and Robbie Lee (Love as Laughter). When she goes big on such singer/songstress piano tracks in the middle as “Healed”, “Many Moons”, and “(un)chosen One”, there’s a powerful sway to her orchestral sound. Unfortunately, that does leave the quieter, more stripped parts to the pieces a little bare.
Curiously, Necima is at its best and worst its opening & closing. Starter “Medicine Wheel” is some grand lounge singer, with a high carry-swing and a touch of sad, but it’s followed by the too cute-by-half “Half Life” and restrained & heartbreaking – but also dragging & too long – “Reason In Remain”. The penultimate “Twins” is rather confusing in its tempo changes and sporadic drumming, but finisher “You Will” sees a simple back-up chorus elevate Ices’ stripped soul with a sad melancholy that only gets more expansive and impressive.
Along with Palms’ It’s Midnight in Honolulu (QRO review), Necima is one of two first full-length albums from Rare Book Boom Records, which has grown out of Nicolas Vernhes’ Rare Book Room studio (Animal Collective, Black Dice, Cat Power, Silver Jews, Deerhunter) in Brooklyn. On Necima, Vernhes & the Room have given voice to a sad but lovely song.
