I was reading Bram Stoker‘s Lair Of The White Worm recently, and there is something about the slow creep of the latest Courier cassette that evokes the brooding, underground menace of that book.
The ominous drone, the slow vibrations, a rustling movement of an inexplicable body. Aqueous groans sound through stagnant pools and the creek and scutter of smaller things vanish into the shadows of hidden caverns. There are some vibrations that appears as a search for something and some of the found sounds have a familiarity that is out of context here.
Both Diurnal Burdens and Matt Atkins are prolific artists in their own rights, but here they have drawn one another into a darkened world of gloom, sitting beside underground lakes and sifting through debris in some Sisyphean manner, the burden of the work being its end result. The structures echo as if seen dimly through a shaky lens, the rigging of a ghost ship seen in the distance. Whatever is down there has the presence of a large machine and the dragging footsteps and random noises confuse things further. Dissembled voices appear from beyond, a bubbling working towards you which, along with a creature captive or hoped to be captive, sends you furtively into the shadows. As we move towards the end, the simple repetition becomes gently lulling though, with the sounds of a diving bell, an attempt to find some means of escape becomes necessary as the sounds gain in strength and forcefulness; until it finally meanders back into the depths and the tension is spent.Courier have definitely become the sort of label on which you can take a punt. Their releases always guarantee some sort of interesting journey, and the four pieces presented on Idle Magnetism are different enough to lend the whole thing a narrative air. The album morphs as it move through the pieces, but the overall mood remains mysterious and slightly foreboding. Excellent stuff.
-Mr Olivetti-
