whngr
9/22/2023
12-inch, A Library
ELECTRONIC SPECTRAL SCORE
… to an unmade horror film. So fitting in this, our season of soot and smoke, with trees beginning to alight with the colors of fire and the donning of fearsome masks. When long shadows are cast into the depths of our primal awareness and spirits dance beneath the harvest moon, an LP/EP coalesces with sinister intentions. Rasping demonic whispers, manipulated field recordings, dark ambient drone with sparing power electronics, washes of demented synthesizer, and many other disparate sounds from impossible to decipher sources, alluring and plaintive sounds suffuse and reverberate on this haunting collaboration between two aural cognoscenti. I see disembodied faces materialize within the shadows just beyond recognition, of sultry winds that slither ominously over my face, and of the subtle bouquet of rot which sends my mind adrift… among memories that are not my own.
It bears mentioning that the feel of the work is meant to be, and is fearsome but to my ear it is as seductive and alluring as a lullaby to a swaddling babe. I am fairly confident there is something wrong with me, perhaps with you as well, as you appear to still be reading. Why is it, when the veil is at its most thin, that we feel like we most belong? Why does the promise of eternal sleep beckon so sweetly, bathed in the glow of autumn’s dying light.
Pay close attention to the indicated rpms as they are different on each side, A: 33.3, B: 45, C: 33.3, and D: 45… then dismiss the diminutive instruction entirely as the performers/composers express disdain for strict adherence to pitch and speed in an effort to encourage experimentation and manipulation of their frightful sonic entity.
Funerary Call is one Harlow MacFarlane of Vancouver, B.C. Active since the mid-nineties, extant in our library and currently exploring the art of scoring film, most recently with the outing, The Unseen (2023).
Sutekh Hexen is (for this release) Kevin Gan Yuen who is credited for design and art direction with the shared writing, composing, and producing credits along with Funerary Call. Based in Oakland, CA, Sutekh Hexen continues to evolve desirably (to my miserable ear) with an apparent focus on collaboration with many various and often macabre sources.
West Coast – 2023