Deradoorian, The Expanding Flower Planet - Album review

Download: A Beautiful Woman; Expanding Flower Planet; Violet Minded; Your Creator

Previously best known as singer/bassist with Dirty Projectors, Angel Deradoorian has subsequently worked with Flying Lotus and Avey Tare, which gives some idea of the out-there psychedelic territory explored on The Expanding Flower Planet.

The hypnotic title-track is typical: shaker and bodhran underpin a meandering miasma of keys and reeds, with Deradoorian’s vocal harmonies spinning off at ethnic tangents; and on “Violet Minded”, buzzy synth punctuates noodling electric piano, while her serpentine vocal warbles enticingly about the sun, the sea, and purple stuff: Prince, one suspects, could find a soulmate here.

Sometimes, her influences are obvious but her exploratory enthusiasm is ultimately winning, and her vocals layered in a way that pivots on the cusp of the sensual and the spiritual.