Poltergeists is a biweekly feature in which Michael and Wes share tracks that they have had on repeat over the past two weeks.
Michael
Solanaceae - “I Saw Them Through The Pines / They Only Walk On Moss”
Kim Larsen (:Of The Wand & The Moon:) brings his mystical arrangements to a slightly different project that bills itself as “psychedelic folk.” I am a new fan of :OTW&TM: and am not qualified to speak for their discography but am deeply in love with the self-titled Solanaceae album from 2013. The acoustic elements in each track are well constructed and the perfect balance of complex and enchanting. I am easily wooed by creatively dark and strange lyrics. If you have an obscure title and an acoustic guitar, chances are pretty good that I will enjoy what you are putting out. But this is an expert crafting a very real feeling through music.
HORSKH - “Trajectory (2 Methyl Remix)”
This song instantly hooked me. I am a big fan of slowing down fast dance songs and making the complex layers of the speedy original drawn out and even more complex. 2 Methyl has managed to take a track that I was alright with, look through the dark layers, and make it a track that I have listened to every day this week. Horskh originally released the Dawn EP as a good look into what they had to offer as an Audiotrauma label debut, but this extended version really grabbed my attention with remixes from Näo, LOSS, FLESH, and Hologram_.
Wes
Azure Ray - “We Are Mice”
This song, and actually a lot of other Azure Ray tracks, have been on repeat for me for probably a month, maybe a month and a half. There’s a lot of elements that I just keep coming back to - the tonal static creating rhythm, the melancholic piano chords, the soft vocals, seemingly vibrating through sheer sadness. In addition to the beautiful melody, I have been a sucker for Azure Ray’s lyricism as well. At some point I just gave up on listening to lyrics, and Azure Ray has been a helpful reminder of the poetry songwriting can have.
Deafheaven - “Come Back”
I was feeling a little apprehensive about posting this track, as I’ve already written about the upcoming Deafheaven album, but I am just enjoying it so much that I decided I’d make a note of it anyway. One thing that I really enjoy about Deafheaven is a use of dynamic range (or at least the illusion of it; I haven’t actually looked at the waveform or anything). This track starts out fairly quiet; there is a slow, clean guitar riff, content to let most of the space be empty. It drops from that riff into what you’d expect, roaring riffs and blast beats, which carry you for several minutes, before dropping back to clean chords and slower drumming. This fuller echo of the introduction carries out the rest of the song; it comes back to those sad slow chords, and allows its relative quiet to contrast the chaos of the middle section.