Casting her wavy veil of kaleidoscopic pop over the end of this summer’s release season is Angel Deradoorian, previously of Dirty Projectors fame. Yet on her first full-length release as a solo artist, “The Expanding Flower Planet,” Deradoorian has found a niche for herself outside previous successes in her downtempo wails. 

 

With Gregorian chanting and a cacophony of organ music, the album takes on a religious fervor in the way Deradoorian sings, writes and 

composes.

 

On the outside, the album is an exploration, charting large, intangible themes like love and knowledge through the filter of an ear-tugging experimental style that sounds simultaneously alien and familiar. The album was primarily composed, performed and recorded by Deradoorian, adding a few extra instruments for depth. 

 

It seems obvious that, on her first solo work, Deradoorian embraces her position as mastermind of the album, making it her own with intricate melodies reminiscent of krautrock and math rock. Spritely keyboard jabs flow through the music, gesturing to her time working on Avey Tare’s Slasher Flicks as keyboardist.

 

The first track sounds as if it could have fit into the “Lawrence of Arabia” soundtrack. “A Beautiful Woman” captures her out-of-the-box style, yet acts as a self-affirming mantra a firm grip on one’s own self-esteem.

 

On “Komodo,” the artist opts for a romantic tone covered in tiny bells. The tune evokes whatever sound might come from a pirouetting ballerina — it’s a gentle song, a song of distinct femininity. It combines the gorgeous falsetto of Deradoorian herself, stretching from whispers to open-throated undulation at the drop of a hat. The song demonstrates

her range as an artist and creates a serene mood through the four-and-a-half-minute track.

 

Not to downplay her previous skills or diminish the amazing work that the Dirty Projectors did with their time in the spotlight, but Angel Deradoorian was always meant to shine alone. In her creative freedom, she crafted an exemplary album that should be praised by any up-and-coming artist as a manual of nonconformism. Defying genre, creating her own sound and doing what she wants to do, Deradoorian is a pioneer in a charted world. “The Expanding Flower Planet” is the first stepping stone to a terrific 

future.