Considering Guillermo Scott Herren may have about five side projects at any given time, perhaps the most surprising thing about The Only She Chapters is that it comes under the Prefuse 73 brand. Previous Prefuse records highlighted the glitch-hop production style that Herren pretty much perfected on 2003's One Word Extinguisher; here though, Herren hews closer to the psychedelia of his recent collaborations with Zola Jesus.
Prefuse's works are often inward-focused and clipped, with melodic ideas constantly shooting off in different directions-- usually in the same song. Vocals and guest raps are cut up too, with Herren employing them as rhythmic elements within his productions. The guest vocals on The Only She Chapters are all female, and instead of being chopped-up, Herren allows them to stretch and play out, obscuring them with layers rather than edits.
"The Only Trial of 9000 Suns" features the late Broadcast singer Trish Keenan, a wonderfully distinctive vocalist, but Herren's production buries her voice in a psychedelic swirl, moving in and out of focus. Minor-key textures clash against each other, and with no space for anything to rise out of the haze and anchor the movement, the song ends up feeling aimless.
"The Only Hand to Hold" has more clarity, with My Brightest Diamond's Shara Worden contributing a gorgeous vocal over restrained bursts of hiss and faraway guitars. It sounds a little esoteric, but Worden spins sweet harmonies and offers the record's most accessible and haunting few minutes. The track is one of the only moments that works in isolation on a record that otherwise seamlessly folds into itself, as Herren rings out any empty spaces. It's an approach that can make for an exhausting, sometimes daunting listen.
Zola Jesus contributes on "The Only Direction in Concrete", and while she is heavily clipped, her vocal character shines through, as her lurching, bellow-y tone punctures layers of digital swarm. Her usual darkly gothic guise is transformed into something earthier, which works well within Herren's framework. Late album highlight "The Only Serenidad" feels like a welcome relief from the scale of Herren's labyrinthine production, inserting glitchy rhythms into a morphing vocal sample above waves of gliding static. It's one of the few moments where Herren's strong ear for melody filters through unobstructed and easily captures a sense of melancholy.
The Only She Chapters feels more expansive than Herren's often miniature-scale productions, meditating on small ideas for long periods, recalling motifs and melodies throughout. Too often, though, these ideas aren't strong enough to sustain the stretching, and the melodic elements aren't as involving as previous Prefuse 73 material. It's dense and impressive production work, but not as listenable as Herren at his best.
