Lindsheaven Virtual Plaza – In Construction

Album information:


Artist: Lindsheaven Virtual Plaza
Album: In Construction
Type: Full-length (LP)
Label: Ailanthus Recordings
Release date: 23 June 2013
Format:

  • Digital download (self-released, 2013)
  • Digital download (Ailanthus Recordings, 2013)

 

Recommendation: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯


In 2013, Brazilian producer Lindsheaven Virtual Plaza released five albums set within its fictional eponym that chronicled its rise and eventual fall among numerous other vestiges of corporate enterprise. The first of these is In Construction, which was released by Ailanthus Recordings in July through an exclusive digital download. In Construction is – as one could imagine – the beginning of LVP’s history (in-universe and out-), which extended through the highly-appreciated NTSC Memories and Nordwrong before dropping one other album in 2015 and exiting the scene until another surprise drop in 2018. This release chronicles the construction of the plaza and the nighttime wanderings of its workers.

Those who come to In Construction after NTSC Memories or the Daily Night Euphoria EP should prepare themselves for some early installment weirdness. LVP’s albums would become known in vaporwave for their grainy and distinctly nostalgic production aesthetic, often incorporating melancholic edits of famous pop songs that were edited as if they were coming from a 1980s public television broadcast in a poor rural community. However, In Construction is much closer to “standard” classic-style vaporwave: the album primarily incorporates sample curation with some minor editing and pitch-/tempo-shifted edits of pop but with a sardonic take on mainstream media that is not present in the other LVP releases. The best example is “Radiophase Workshop”, an awkward edit of Justin Timberlake’s 2006 smash-single “My Love”.

However (again), In Construction also features a couple ambient portions. The first two tracks – “Welcome to Our Construction Site” and “Sunset Working” – feature hazy sections of hypnagogia that curiously have little to do with the music in the rest of the album until closer “Sunset Recording”. In context of the other tracks, these first two sound as if they were made for a different album; and those others are a veritable motley, including a remix of Vektroids “Idgaf Island” from LASERDISC VISIONS and a Motown-esque R&B mix via “Vintage Dreams” (arguably the album’s strongest non-ambient track). One could make the argument that they’re supposed to represent the idyllic site itself and the other tracks are what the workers experience, but the contrast is too discursive for that to be an effective interpretation.

Overall, In Construction does not know what kind of album it wants to be (this flaw would be ironed out in later releases). Between sample curation, strange pop edits, and its occasional ambient section, In Construction sounds like an album for which the creator had a ton of ideas but did not know which to curate. In a meta-narrative way, it’s as much a representation of the creator themself – you’re also listening to LVP figure out what direction they want to take as a producer as well as navigating their interests in music composition. At the very least, the ambient tracks are worth hearing (and they make for good introductions to the rest of the LVP discography), but fans will probably be charmed but a curious listen or two.

 

Tracklist


1. Welcome to Our Construction Site – (2:25)
2. Sunset Working – (2:33)
3. Dreamnight Street – (4:20)
4. Radiophase Workshop – (2:03)
5. Rooftop Construction – (1:53)
6. Vintage Dreams – (2:18)
7. San Louis Mall – (2:54)
8. Unlimited Gliding – (1:16)
9. Idgaf Island (Lindsheaven RMX) – (1:53)
10. Theatre (First Test) – (4:07)
11. Weather Channel Said It’ll Rain Tomorrow – (2:06)
12. Sunset Recording – (5:02)


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