Effusion - Album Review

By Lars Haur, On the Fringes of Sound, December 30, 2023

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.