A cassette whose two sides feel different enough in tone and makeup that they could pass for separate EPs, at the very least. Side A is a mellow affair, masterfully blending acoustic guitar with synths, and with an undercurrent of urgency that makes it clear that there is something buried just beneath the surface here.
How did this find me? There's a vocal centerpiece on side A, "Ghost of the Harvest," a haunting, stark voice, an acoustic guitar. This feeling of being haunted occupies the side, unrelenting in its insistence that there's something just beneath the current. Is that you, behind that tape hiss (it's always there if you're willing to listen.)
There's the feeling of this construction owing something to drone, though there isn't a lot of drone here until side A folds in on itself over the course of the last track, "The Wind At Your Back," where a pulsing chord played like the sound of a breath across bottles accompanies a slowly building piece, with beautiful bass and an ethereal plucked string-through-water overlay.
Side B ventures further afield, more experimental, with a notable jazz influence on the opener, "Grass Burning In The Palm." Vibes and saxophones, a laid back vocal, we're in a smoky bar here, somewhere out of time. The side won't reach exactly this level of displacement again as it settles toward a more ambient and electronic pulsation.
Buried voices, shouts from somewhere, some looped conversation and dirty guitar. You brought me out here but I'm not sure what I'm supposed to be seeing. Is that a weed or a flower?
The album comes back to center at the end, finding a lovely little melodic piece with just vocals and guitar in "Map."
Your tape found me well, I'll keep digging in the back yard.
https://anthropocenerecordings.bandcamp.com/album/erik-kramer-a-house-floating-in-the-middle-of-a-lake
--Kingo Sleemer
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