4.21.21 by Ryan Masteller
If anyone tells you they were unsurprised at what came out of the speakers when they pressed play on this Feral Copse tape, you call them a liar right away, right to their face. (Unless of course that person is related to Chandor Glöomy, Paul Harrison, or Andy Jarvis, or they happen to work for sPLeeNCoFFiN, then it makes sense.) Give them a shove if you feel extra irritated – they probably deserve it. I had an absolutely rock solid idea of what this tape was going to sound like, so when it completely bent my mind in a totally unforeseen direction, I had to shove something. My office chair was closest.
See I, like probably most of you out there, misread the artist as Feral CORPSE, and as such was preparing to be obliterated by searing death metal (or at least a harsh noise wall). But, this being the “Experimental Tape Scene” and all, I probably should have known better, also because the j-card itself is quite nicely composed – there’s no metal font in tree roots or bones or razor slices. Instead, there’s a tranquil look about this thing, and from its reels, while not exactly TRANQUIL tranquil, sound emanates in the form of oscillations and field recordings and tape decay, blanketing your perception in a coating of postapocalyptic ash. Or snow, maybe – if you want to feel a little more at ease about it. Postapocalyptic snow.
The trio split the difference on two sidelong adventures, “Shroom shank” and “The crack in the sky was the signal we had waited for.” Creaks and pops, disembodied percussion, unidentified source material, intricate sonic details, all sidle up next to one another, press tighter and tighter as time passes, and merge into one thing via compression. Maybe it’s the gravity getting all extra oppressive as this thing rolls on, maybe it’s the atmosphere getting sucked out of the room, who knows. All I know is that I don’t have to brace myself for any blast beats or unholy shrieking before enjoying this one.
As mentioned, this is the edition from sPLeeNCoFFiN, but you’ll be streaming it below from muza muza, whose run is sold out.
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