Tethers – It Bows by Day
7.18.18 by Ryan Masteller

There was no interest in holding back for Tethers, a cross-country collaboration between Andrew Weathers and Brendan Landis. The result, “It Bows by Day,” speaks for itself. Guitars (mostly), organ, and contact mics erupt in shimmering pulses, like the peaks and valleys of a seismograph or radio waves from a quasar.

“Taken for Granted Your Own Two Hands” was “improvised simultaneously in Brooklyn/Oakland on the full moon of July 19th, 2016…” Wait a minute. Sure, I get that the internet lets you do amazing things, like make dank memes and release Soundcloud mixtapes. But how do you simultaneously improvise with another person on the opposite side of the United States? Last I checked, Oakland is pretty far from Brooklyn. I guess magic was in the air, or in the ethernet cables, because “Taken for Granted” is easy to get lost in, easy to dream about, dream through, without any real chemical enhancements. Still, I bet weed makes it cooler.

“Tall Fields” exhibits NO SUCH MAGIC – not the long-distance kind anyway. Weathers and Landis somehow were able to be in the same place at the same time, in Brooklyn, and the results are more subdued, more meditative, perhaps the result of the proximity of the physical space to the mental space. Mind-meld kind of stuff, transfer of ideas before reactor shutdown. But the mesmerizing drone is no less sultry or intoxicating – in fact, you could argue that there’s more clarity in the detail, more detail in the restraint. Clearly they were onto something. No, not ON something – although I bet weed makes it cooler.

Lurker Bias still has some of this edition of 43 available. Make it happen for yourself, savvy consumer!