Lia Ices

“Grown Unknown”
from the album Grown Unknown
2011
iTunes

Uplifting in a Kate Bush way, uneasy in a Cat Power way, the 2008 debut from Brooklyn dreamcatcher Lia Ices was a slept-on slow-burner full of haunting crooning, minimalist pianos, and shimmering Rhodes — think PJ Harvey’s White Chalk with better anti-depressants and a suntan from a summer spent in McCarren Park. Two years later, Ices is following it up with her first album for Jagjaguwar (due January 2011) and its early teaser track, “Grown Unknown.” The track unleashes a more assured, hard-edged Lia, whose swirling coo is now surrounded by tricky percussion and violently throbbing chords — mainly a “homemade dulcimer” played by drummer Otto Hauser, who used chopsticks while Lia’s brother Eliot fingered the chords. Inspired by the body percussion involved in ritual music, the track even features a new percussive slant — circular clapping that fits right next to YIMBY grads Zs and Gil-Scott Heron’s recent epic “New York is Killing Me.”