Review: Pia Isa ‘Dissolve’

Way back in March of 2022, I was tasked with reviewing the debut solo album for Pia Isaksen, who back then was predominantly known as the singer of Norwegian heavyweights Superlynx. The artist had set off on her own path and created the project known as Pia Isa, and the responsibility fell to me to cover the album for this very webzine.

As I took a tentative step into the world of Pia with Distorted Chants, what I found was a realm filled with psychedelic drones, and otherworldly dreamlike soundscapes, which left me completely perplexed as to just what I had let myself in for. Thankfully it was an incredibly warm experience, and so when the opportunity arose to cover the new album, I jumped at the chance.

With her sophomore Dissolve, what I have come across is a further expanded sonic experience, which I would like to discuss with you here today.

The album is an eight-track cascade into a realm filled with hypnotic heavy droned richness, and dreamlike vocal performances, which will whisk you away to a different time and space entirely. It is a forty-minute trip around the cosmos, where Pia takes the reins and guides us through her mystical plane of existence.

As was with Distorted Chants, Dissolve is an intoxicating journey, which, if you allow it to guide you, will open your eyes to just how vibrant drone really can be. Maybe it’s the vocal atop of the soundtrack, that lush ethereal voice which eases the sonics, but either way, it makes the whole experience so much more than just a standard heavy drone outing.

The heavy lurching drum, combined with a pained guitar and dark throbbing bass will have you seeking solace in the vocal passages. Even coming in at forty minutes, this feels like it’s far longer such is the experience. It feels as if time itself has slowed down, into some kind of slow-motion monologue, and the vocal really is the saving grace from this menacing darkness.

Right from the album opener, Transform, we are instantly hit with that heavy droned guitar, draped across that ominous pounding. This isn’t just moody; this is downright filthy. By the time Pia’s vocal rolls in, it’s already given that feeling of impending doom, so to hear those softer notes is an absolute godsend. It chugs its way along, like some sort of wounded feral beast and sets the tone perfectly for the rest of the album.

The heavy lurching drum, combined with a pained guitar and dark throbbing bass will have you seeking solace in the vocal passages…

Tracks two and three, Into The Fire and Dissolve solidify the depth of the depravity that the drone has sunk to, with a compacting of density in the dynamics. This can also be felt elsewhere on the album, but to hit at such an ongoing feeling of thickness in sound, these two excel at giving the whole affair an ominous appeal. As I play on, I feel like One Above Ten Below will be the end of me, I mean, just how much drone and doomgaze can someone take?

Thankfully, New Light comes in as my salvation. This track just hits a little differently. It has that same crushing dynamic, but this time there seems to be a vibrancy that is unique to its peers. I return to this track several times over the course of my multiple listens, and mark this as my very favourite of the whole album. That isn’t to say that the rest is inferior by comparison, but this track just has an air to it that lifts it temporarily from the quagmire.

As Emerald rolls around things immerse themselves back into that darkness, but something has changed. There are other elements at play here, and though it is darker, it has a more mysterious tone to it all. The inclusion of that spooky guitar sound really has shaken things up.

Tide reminds us exactly what it is Pia excels at. That slow droned lurch is back, and boy is it crushing. The more it drudges on, the more I become engulfed by its intensity, and by its climax, I am absolutely obliterated.

After a second to recompose myself, it leaves Drown Or Float to finish with that fatal blow. Half expecting something a little lighter to finish, I couldn’t have been more wrong. This fatal swansong destroys any lingering idea that things might tie off nicely as it’s literally the apocalyptic finale that closes the show.

Leaving me somewhat speechless, my one final thought is that this experience is something of a unique one. Pia Isa is unlike anything else out there, it defies comparison and really is a solo mission into oblivion. As second albums go, this really is a step on from its predecessor and should be experienced to be fully understood.

Label: Argonauta Records
Band Links: Facebook | Bandcamp | Spotify | Instagram

Scribed by: Lee Beamish