I was sent a mysterious link to a Bandcamp page recently. A split release of Charles Wright & Guillermo Pizarro, collectively entitled “Handsome God Within Us”
I don’t want to get too far off the path here, but I will say that I don’t sleep. I mean, I do, but it’s usually a little bit here and a little bit there. I keep odd hours and sometimes I feel a major disconnect when I can’t remember what day it is or what lay beyond my desk and coffee maker. So this was a perfect time to listen to this release.
Wait. Is it morning?
Wright’s “Mourning Hymn to the Fading Light” opens with the dripping sounds of a cavern. Something, a train perhaps, lumbers overhead. Old, wooden beams reverberate with the sound. I imagine we’re under a train trestle or far beneath a road. But the rumble of the train is neither rhythmic or steady. It becomes a weird percussive loop as strings begin to swell up and rise in the darkness. I imagine the musicians are in this enclosure, stagnant water to their knees.
There comes a deep chiming within the dark. I look up at the little white bar that tells me how much time is left on the track and I’m disappointed that only a few minutes remain. I’m also a little shocked at how much time has elapsed.
Shame, I rather enjoyed being here in the darkness with the strings, the hiss of dirt and dust raining down in the stray shafts of morning light.
On the Bandcamp page, you can stream two of Pizarro’s pieces. The first is entitled “Kari in Stavanger, Norway #43”
We are thrust into a bracing wall of noise, while a voice in a faux death metal grunt half-whispers a paean to a lost love. The swirling noise rises and falls in the background. There are electronic squeals, guitar terrorism, animalistic shrieks and groans. It’s abrasive and invigorating.
The second piece “Chuluun in Darvi, Mongolia #51” begins with an airy drone that sounds like a blast furnace. Someone begins shouting about drinking their lover’s menstruation. There are churning and groaning sounds that lend a palpable feeling of menace. It gets my vote for the make-out track.
You can stream three pieces on Bandcamp, or you can download the entire release for FREE! at seven1878.com.
I’m looking forward to hearing the whole thing, but from the three offerings at Bandcamp I would definitely say check it out. There’s a lot to enjoy here. Very atmospheric and unsettling.
(for the three tracks only -)
Three symbiotic death archetypes out of five.