Frozen Niagara Falls is a double album by the American musical project Prurient, the performing name of Dominick Fernow. It was released on May 12, 2015 through Profound Lore Records.[2] Leading up to its official release date, Frozen Niagara Falls was promoted with online streams of "Dragonflies to Sew You Up"[3] and "Greenpoint".[4]
Background and composition
Fernow originally intended to create Frozen Niagara Falls with sounds from non-musical acoustic sources with no electronics at all, including materials being broken and destroyed. Regarding the concept, he said in an interview with The Quietus:
"Not acoustic instruments in particular but any acoustic sound we could generate, even at a high volume. Things being destroyed, rocks being cracked in half and hurled around and that kind of stuff ... I felt I kind of needed a necessity to try and return to the idea of noise committed with the physical."[5]
The album was originally conceived in Italy[5] and was eventually recorded in New York City, in what Fernow deemed "spirit of homelessness".[1]
Frozen Niagara Falls received widespread acclaim from music critics. At Metacritic (a review aggregator site which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 from music critics), based on 16 critics, the album has received a score of 84/100, indicating "universal acclaim". Pitchfork wrote that "With Niagara, he's taken strengths from his entire oeuvre to reach deeper into himself and produce what may be his best record yet, one that brings all the fulfillment of noise and transcends them all the same. [...] He offers an endless, probing self-exploration that simply isn't found in noise, metal, hardcore, power electronics, whatever harsh music you can think of."[13]
The Quietus were positive in their assessment of the album, writing that "Rushing static, distant growls, and harsh noises duel on top of the dramatic central theme, yet it remains more beautiful and tragic than harsh or angry. It's a compellingly emotional and driven tone that permeates several of the album's key tracks."[13]
Track listing
Music arranged by Dominick Fernow, Kris Lapke and Arthur Rizk; lyrics by Fernow.[1]
Disc 1
No.
Title
Length
1.
"Myth of Building Bridges"
10:17
2.
"Dragonflies to Sew You Up"
5:19
3.
"A Sorrow with a Braid"
4:53
4.
"Every Relationship Earthrise"
3:13
5.
"Traditional Snowfall"
5:16
6.
"Jester in Agony"
7:14
7.
"Poinsettia Pills"
3:16
8.
"Shoulders of Summerstones"
5:16
Total length:
44:46
Disc 2
No.
Title
Length
1.
"Wildflowers (Long Hair with Stocking Cap)"
0:32
2.
"Greenpoint"
10:09
3.
"Lives Torn Apart (NYC)"
3:23
4.
"Frozen Niagara Falls (Portion One)"
7:02
5.
"Cocaine Daughter"
5:01
6.
"Falling Mask"
1:57
7.
"Frozen Niagara Falls (Portion Two)"
7:19
8.
"Christ Among the Broken Glass"
11:21
Total length:
46:47 91:34
Personnel
Frozen Niagara Falls adapted from CD liner notes.[1]
