After a stellar album Salt Year released in 2011, Chris Bathgate took a longer hiatus and isolated himself in the nature, enjoying symbiotic life with nature. The result of this prolonged introspective journey was 2016th EP Old Factory, and this year he delivered his tenth album. Chris played in various bands in his home-place Michigan, and then he took folk direction in his solo career. He is often compared to Sufjan Stevens, Damien Jurade and Iron & Wine.
The comparisons are certainly plausible, yet Chris creates a more subtle and raw sound. I would also say he comes off as an artist with grit and candor. Although we are dealing with indie folk with Americana spices here, there is a strong presence of nature and transmission of the experience of that very nature. Chris' music is like the soundtrack of nature, bursting from simulations of its sounds through the use of instruments and vocals. His interpretation reflects connection with Earth, sky and water, and that is how he came up with the album title. Dizzy Seas is everything you expect it to be - pure and simple homage to the nature where Chris was spending last five years.
According to Bathgate, peculiar sounds are his food, he needs them for survival. In the world that does not allow solitude, he tries just that - to isolate himself. Dizzy Seas is a palette of simple, melancholic and warm melodies in folk arrangement guided by a mellifluous vocal. Acoustic guitar dominates, with minimal interventions of other instruments with a purpose to emulate the nature. From the opening Water, Chris takes us through the landscapes and soundscapes all the way to Northern Country Trail and all the cities he is running away from. He wraps up everything with a beautiful song Nicosia, ergo, an island as a symbol of seclusion and solitude. The story comes full circle - the man is an island, and we might as well find pleasure in that. Solitude should not make us dizzy. Thx, Chris, for this epiphany.
Chris Bathgate has made a big comeback with a record like this. It serves as a proof that deserved introspective journey and solitude are fertile for art.
