Tavare: Too Small To Be So High

While metal-gaze pioneers Nadja have always been the ultimate reference point for Aidan Baker, the Berlin-based artist has never been one to occupy a single space for too long. This decade alone has seen his canon widen with several slowcore-inspired releases (the latest, & You Still Fall In).

It’s this subtle pivot that has led to one of Baker’s most fertile creative periods, and moving the boundaries even further, alongside Tristen Bakker (Soft Noise Collective)and Angela Muñoz (Nunofyrbeeswax) as Tavare, the trio deliver one of the year’s most underrated slowcore releases in Too Small To Be So High.

Recorded in the Genezarethkirche during the afternoon before their performance as part of the Keith F’eM Church In Session in Berlin’s Neukölln neighbourhood, Baker, Bakker and Muñoz recorded seven songs from the floor up, utilising the natural reverb of the church. And with very few overdubs, it gives Too Small To Be So High a loose, spatial quality that aligns slowcore with the principles of deep listening.

Where the latter is concerned, it’s this approach one needs to take when engaging with Too Small To Be So High. These days, too often bands are dismissed based on the sheer volume of new releases and the time it takes to absorb any one record. But to those who care to explore those inner grains of sound, it’s bands like Tavare where the richest rewards are reaped. Applying the theory of deep listening to these recordings, and it really does open up Tavare’s world.

Deep in tone and texture, Unentwine and Left Behind sees Tavare providing sound that slowly lights up the room. Given the space in which these songs were conceived, one could just about construe them as field recordings, and that’s the feeling these songs evoke. With Muñoz’s percussion shifting in tempo, she orchestrators a natural movement like a row of trees swaying in the breeze.

And it continues on Lucy. A hushed folk dirge seemingly missing from the Ida catalogue, while the Dinosaur Jr. cover of Thumb sees the trio adding their own flavours, dissecting the most curious parts of J.Mascis’ body of work and wrenching in vital components of slowcore. In many ways, it’s Too Small To Be So High’s focal point.

The metallic ring of You Are All At Once – an almost unrecognisable re-worked version of Baker’s song from the 2022 eponymous release – and El Oceano are pieces of sheer precision. Each note, placed for maximum effect, giving each song new layers and depth. Closing with the excellent Ghosts, the Bakker-led piece is a beautiful Mimi Parker homage. Once again, Muñoz’s drumming turns on a dime, as she provides the tempo that opens up space for her bandmates to thrive.

It embodies what Too Small To Be So High is. Exploring the inner workings of slowcore, Tavare add new inflections to it, delivering something gripping. But not in a stifling way. This is an embrace that radiates with a warmth that the world could do with right now, and while Tavare consists of three artists who have spent their respective careers scouring the more esoteric frontiers of music, here their creativity is streamlined into something that glistens beautifully in slow motion.

Too Small To Be So High is out now via God Unknown Records (vinyl), Cruel Nature Records (UK – cassette) and Katuktu Collective (US – cassette).