Ether Diver, Other People’s Music

Delicate and minimal art-pop songs constructed of ethereal female vocals, found sound snippets and soft-edged, wobbly synth tones. The four actual songs are reminiscent of a more stripped-down Kate Bush, with a focus on the diaphanous vocals and atmosphere; a fifth short track sets the mood with some sampled voices, a quiet piano sequence and some weird sound effects.

“Flutter” is probably the best of the bunch, with its relatively approachable piano arrangement and floating, dreamy vocal that invites comparison to Kate Bush. I've thrown the term "ghostwave" around to describe my own music from time to time, but if anything is ghostwave, it's this.
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“Inventive dream pop with a minimal vibe, beautiful instrumentation, bursts of electronic noise & sublime vocals from Sweet Freeze. Favorite track: First Forage” - Andy Stockton, Director, Dragon Trax Recordings

“soft and vulnerable yet bold and stunning. kate reminds me of portishead in her work but is doing her own things completely. love it.” - Armageddon Speaking (artist)

“fantastic! very moody and cinematic!” - Doors in the Labyrinth (artist)

“Wow! A gorgeous inventive album full of wondrous haunting melodies, lofi guitars and barely there percussion. Songs so delicate they feel like they're hanging by a thread of silk.” - Constant Little Ghost (Check out his celebrated 2024 release The Yellow Knife)

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Untidy Music - a #FeatureFriday selection
(3 reviews)

Main Review
From the offset 'Effusion' by Sweet Freeze gives you a sense of isolation. With its metallic sounding spaces, it's thin synthetic strings and the 3 or 4 note guitar motifs. The vocals sound intimate yet jarring without sounding obtuse. It's a personal recording dripping with an honesty that hits you in the heart.

It's lo-fi and experimental and almost feels improvised but still maintains a sense of purpose.

You are drawn into a world that maybe unfamiliar but still has it roots in humanity. It's a very human album despite the intentional glitches and stark recordings.

The melancholy lives alongside a truthfulness and a beauty that possibly needs a second listen to understand or feel the way it was intended although it doesn't feel planned or contrived. It's a pure, raw and emotional journey.

Listen to it in it's entirety and let yourself go with it. You will be rewarded.

by Florgoth

In her own words, Kate Sattler's "Effusion" is an album about leaving fear behind and to live life to it's fullest. I would say that it achieved just that. Kate utilizes short and catchy melodies in a repetitive pattern and her bright, gentle voice in combination with sometimes abrasive sounds to create a sense of urgency and movement.

In "Seedling" it's a shaker and bass-drum, driving the track with an unexpected pace; in "Lullaby" a metronome is used for the same purpose as are Kate's quick and distorted vocals in "Beware". It is this drive that makes the entire album feel alive and constantly moving, a sensation that I find makes for a gripping listening experience. Adding hypnotically beautiful melodies and haunting vocals elevates the songs on this album further; providing a rather intimate feeling. Overall, this is an album I can highly recommend to everyone that is willing to get taken on a journey.

by Foxy HxC McFly

A delicate and ethereal lofi album that will take you on a Journey of it's own from start to finish, like the genre so often does.

Effusion is a nine piece album more than worthy of a listen, preferably in one sitting, with good headphones and while relaxing so you can focus on every note and every choice made by the artist on every track in the album. A lovely one I can't recommend enough.

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Lars Haur, On the Fringes of Sound

At it's heart, Effusion seems to be a quiet little acoustic indie rock album but manages to end up being so much more than that. The soft guitars are combined with a plethora of unconventional sounds and surprising production choices that make some deeply introspective and intimate. Some of the tracks are much more straightforward than others in a sonic sense while others delve deeper into experimenal sounds and textures. However, they all manage to cohesively integrate all of their elements quite well alongside Sattler's impeccably recorded vocals. 

The opening track features acoustic guitar and a sweet vocal performance, but also puts a strange rattling sound almost front and center. It is difficult to explain the sound but it serves as a substitute for drums or other percussion and gives the track a quality that sounds as though it is rolling along, right into the next track. "Beware" feature some more interesting percussion though much more sparse than the previous track and sees Sattler process her vocals in unconventional ways with much of it sounding clean and crisp with certain parts suddenly throwing a lo-fi aesthetic on her voice, like she is singing to us through and old tape of some sort. "The Between" sees the guitar replaced by a soft electric piano with a quiet buzzing and minute vocals that reach just barely above a whisper.  As a whole, the album is a rather interesting mixture with all the elements of an intimate indie album but with all the sonic experimentation of an electroacoustic work. It is a captivating listen in its simultaneous apparent simplicity and conceptual complexity.  

Lars Haur, On the Fringes of Sound

The latest release from Kate Sattler's Sweet Freeze project is a textural joy of layered guitars and vocals with strange found sounds placed in an otherworldly sounding lo-fi format. Filled with soft and sweet vocals layered over a plethora of equally soft guitar textures, Sweet Freeze provides us a unique indie-folk electronic experience that is also not afraid to break the soft and sweet approach when it so desires. This can be heard on the opening track as it starts ever so soft and quiet, yet with a strange sense of determination, only later to explode into a bit of distorted vocals and guitar noise until abruptly returning to the soft intro we heard early on. Truly an intriguing foray into more experimental forms of indie and folk.

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“Check out Kate’s extraordinary music. Her “Flood the Engine” EP is glorious: moody, Sonic Youth-inflected textures and ethos. She’s fucking brilliant.” - Walter Chaw, film critic

“This is how you make great music. The Flood the Engine EP is brilliant.” - Nat Lyon, Experimental Trash

Matt Jensen, Divide & Conquer

Sweet Freeze aka Kate Sattler is an artist from Portland who recently released Half Life. Last year I reviewed Permission and there are similarities to that release. I felt she built on the foundation she formed on her last album.

The album revolves around light instrumentation and serene, tranquil type vocals. I have to admit I’m not sure how I missed the similarities to Juliana Barwick last time but that is definitely an artist who has a comparable sense of aesthetics.

The songs on this album felt similar to the last album in that there are ambient vignettes. Although I don’t think these songs are religious there is also this feeling that these are hymns.

The album begins with the haunting “Buoys.” I could barely make out vocals at all in this song which hides in the background of the mix. The bass drum is actually the most prominent elements as synth-like violin and vocals wrap around it. “Fracture” is a slow burn of melancholy and contemplative colors. This song in particular came very close in emotive energy that I usually hear in the band Grouper whom I deeply enjoy. “Safe Harbor” provides a little levity but more of a relaxing and calming energy.

“Sunspot” was a highlight in my opinion and arguably the high point of the album. The guitars patterns were meditative and hypnotic and the vocals in addition to having the angelic quality are quite catchy. “Burn Control” returns to some of the darker tones and textures while “The New Machine” felt more like an interlude to change direction slightly.

Sattler introduces some more prominent percussion instruments on “Atomize” and slowly builds with more elements which creates this kinetic flow of patterns. “Shorter Days” felt more like an intro and “Poison” is a flickering ambient piece that buzzes around your head that almost seems binaural. The last song is a remix of “Safe Harbor” [by ate21] which has more elements in the percussive area which I thought sounded great.

My main critique is the same one I had on my previous review. Sattler presents an idea and usually in most cases adds to it by using more elements. There aren’t significant changes that you might hear in contemporary classical pieces for example. For this reason this album feels thoroughly rooted in the ambient category. Sattler creates moods which sit for as long as the songs last. In fact she may want to consider making her songs into seamless loops where people can listen to a certain mood indefinitely.

If you liked her last release you will like this and if you haven’t heard her before this isn’t a bad place to start. Recommended.

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Iker Garmendia, musician (Sugaar Pan)

My introduction to this artist and a devoted fan since then. It's amazing how music so cold, minimalistic and barebones can deliver so much emotional intensity and delicate beauty. Sweet Freeze is a perfect naming choice that captures the mood of her music. An artist that achieves the same results of bands such as Low by different means.

limnetic villains, musician

Weird stuff. Kind of like if PJ Harvey’s White Chalk album was played to Stereolab through a wall and then they tried to cover it after taking a bunch of dissociatives. Levels are a bit up and down. I need time with this one, wishlisted. I like it. Nice oddity.

gtlokeb, musician (Hverheij)

Half Life breathes indie with quiet, acoustic sound. Vocal phrasing colors the music so well with a universal, humanistic heartbeat.

Matt Jensen, Divide & Conquer

Sweet Freeze aka Kate Sattler is a musician currently residing in Portland, Oregon who released Permission about a year ago. The album consists of twelve songs which I almost felt were ambient vignettes in some sense after listening to them. Most of the songs are around two to three minutes long and build on an initial kernel of an idea.

I really fell in love with the way Sattler built her ideas. And perhaps most importantly I thought her vocals were really well done throughout the album. The album starts off with one of my favorite songs entitled “This Soft Eternal.” It revolves around synths, mild strings and delicate, fragile vocals. The song is melancholy and one of the emotions I think she routinely plays into well throughout the album.

Up next is “Scorpio Season” which has more of beat and has a number of disparate elements that really work well together. The song builds with vocal melodies which are panned in different directions. As I mentioned earlier the song builds rather than really transitions to another part with a different energy.

There is some very subtle and low hum melancholy on “98 in the Shade” while the following track “Storms” contains some of the most beautiful guitar work on the album. The album ends strong starting with “The Fleeting Beauty of the Bottom of the Sea” which is a softer, ambient track with very well implemented vocals. “The Separation” is hypnotic and meditative. The main groove which finds its footing and rides out the song is one of the best and most full I have heard from her. “Earthbound” is again very subtle and intimate but closes with some of her strongest patterns.

Sattler’s strength lies in her ability to link disparate elements into a fully interactive moving whole. You see this throughout the album and these ideas she explored are more related to artists like Tim Hecker and Fennesz rather than a singer/songwriter with a guitar. In fact if she isn’t familiar with these artists I suggest she spend some time with them to perhaps hear how they expand on ideas which can lead to a ten-plus-minute soundscapes.

I really like her aesthetics and sense of space. This is a case where I would really love to hear the artist go all in and fully explore her ideas on her next release. On that note this was a very well done LP and I certainly look forward to hearing where she goes from here.