Artist - Grasslung
Album - Sincere Void
Label - Root Strata
Genre - Electronic
Style - Ambient, Drone, Experimental
Continuing on in a string of excellent releases, with recent LPs from Common Eider, King Eider and Duane Pitre, Root Strata presents us with a wonderful new album from Grasslung, whose “Sincere Void” combines beguiling drone excursions that segue nicely into abrasive feedback and thought-provoking dissections of space and time…
Operating within a territory shrouded in mystery, Jonas Asher, otherwise known as Grasslung, lives and works, as his myspace page points out, in the confines of “No Where, New York” (a place all too-familiar to this devoted listener). The music contained in this release couldn’t have come from any other place. While Grasslung has released a number of cassettes, cdrs, and a lathe cut(!), “Sincere Void” marks his first “official” release.
Throughout the seven pieces, Grasslung persists in scouring unspeakable depths in order to concoct an over-arching ominous tone that casts a pallor over an absolutely compelling affair. To be more precise, “Sincere Void” is designed with stark contrasts in mind, moving from gripping movements to unsettling atmospherics with relative ease. As “Tired of Remembering” presents subtle piano strokes with sustained notes, “Feeding Your Vanity” interrupts the listener’s short-lived tranquility with explosive noise and a pulsating heap of a drum reminiscent of the meat Scott Walker beat to great effect on “Clara”. The thick noise envelops the listener and, with headphones, you can bask in its ever-loving glow. After the devastating effects of “Feeding Your Vanity”, Grasslung moves into more delicate material with “When We Were Young”, which allows the nostalgia to seep through the pores of the listener in such a subtle way, the ache of half-remembrances will continue on, unrequited.
An album of stark contrasts, “Sincere Void” always works wonderfully, as so many albums seem to flutter by on one single conceptual framework, never branching out or moving away from what appears secure or comfortable. Grasslung lets certain moments linger long enough, exposing their effect, before shifting tone, the mood conceived then shattered, then rebuilt under a different light, with more shadow and dust then before.
Tracklist:
1. Scarred Hands We Drift (6:25)
2. Roland Park Noose (5:24)
3. Tired Of Remembering (6:08)
4. Feeding Your Vanity (7:28)
5. When We Were Young (7:09)
6. A Piece Of Me (3:33)
7. Lay Down In A Ditch (6:41)
