Rather nicely Lost Harbours’ side to this tape begins with the sound of unwrapping paper and tearing tape before the gentle violin of Three Crows murmurs eerily into existence, the vocals muted and sombre, it’s a slight, subtle and peculiarly enchanting track that is of stark contrast to the droning, heavy ambience that kicks off Void.
A duo from somewhere near Southend, Richard and Emma have been playing together since 2009, with this second track an especially interesting balance of their sounds, Emma’s clarient curious and wily against the wall of sound moving menacingly from ear to ear and barking like a disgruntled walrus.
Closing track Into The Woods has a sorrowful guitar line with occasional springs in its plod, Richard’s voice is dour again with moments of light, whilst around this melody the track is engulfed by swampy ambience, the two jostling for prominence. Side A coming to an abrupt halt.
Bedroom musician Daryl Worthington (aka Kostoglotov) gets his side off to a surprisingly lively start, the wobbly plucked notes of Rufus May sounding like a tipsy bee. A bright fuzzy bass note rears its head and the track turns into a little ramble of sounds, for some strange reason reminding me of an electro soundtrack to an old cartoon called The Ugly Bug Ball.
The nicely titled I Don’t Know Whether to Dance or Die is a steady pulsing number wrapped up in staticy ambience that builds in nervous intensity before drawing swiftly to a close. Always Tired is a ploddingly, droopy eyed track, a vibraphonic melody played out over a back and forth organ line and wiry guitars. It neatly encapsulates the hazy languid feel of insomnia and a cloud of sleep hovering over a weary, worn out body.
A good pairing with the two acts styles contrasting and complimenting one another well, and both equally deserving of your attention on this short, sweet split.
[Rating:4]
