“The Expanding Flower Planet” by Deradoorian

August 21. 2015 | By Wayne Jessup

deradoorian

Deradoorian
The Expanding Flower Planet
[Anticon]

While a long time in gestation, Angel Deradoorian’s debut LP The Expanding Flower Planet scarcely feels worked over. It unfolds effortlessly, enveloping one in her singular world. Her time served with Dirty Projectors and Avey Tare’s Slasher Flicks can’t help but inform her work, as well as collaborations with Bjork, The Roots, and Flying Lotus, among others. Her triumph is the synthesis, incorporating intense vocal arrangements to conjure up a headphone masterpiece that sends one back, time and again.

From the lift off of “Beautiful Woman” to the lush excursion of the title track, it’s truly a journey, expanding on the formative template of her Mind Raft EP from 2009 to an unimaginable degree. “Komodo” is the shining jewel in the crown, while “Invisible Man” and “Dark Lord” find a meditative funk groove. Bringing it all back home, the stately “Grow” is the perfect closing track, summing up what came before and providing a platform for future explorations, both musically and thematically. We’ll give Angel Deradoorian the last word: “How do we learn, so we can all teach?”

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