Tuesday, November 6, 2012

Chapels - Last Nights (House of Alchemy 060)



 for this journey through the world of Chapels, a little Popeye will keep the Blutos of your life at bay.  peace and love to my friends at Humboldt Relief :)


You are going to require some inner resolve to climb this mountain: a mix of deep space tones and organ drone bliss.  Thus, for this journey through the world of Chapels, a little Popeye will keep the Blutos of your life at bay.  Last time around - a split with Jeremy Kelly - fractured strings reverberated heavily in the humid, dank night air - an ominous environment.  Of all the Chapels releases to which i have listened, they have the quality of holding you in a state of suspense.  With each experience, one takes a step into the unknown - to unlock the lock of a door that might reveal something sinister, or maybe a portal into something ethereal and divine.  Nothing will quite prepare one for that next step.  On Last Nights, the latest Chapels release on House of Alchemy, an intriguing mix of sound coalesces to create something akin to 2001 meets Radio Amor-era Hecker.

Side A could be the soundtrack for some type of NASA training simulation.  It commences with a buoyant, amplified, yet unsettling drone.  A transition occurs, in which a periodic swells of sound are interspersed with a rolling, metallic tones.  Throughout the track, various emanations from the vast realm flourish briefly before disappearing into space.  If you enjoyed the recent Obscurer cd, then you dig these sounds.  Side B is discernibly different. Opaque muffled sounds are followed by the aural haze of oscillating drone and noise. There is a beautiful contrast between the idyllic tones and heavy noise.  Proceeding through several sections, the overall sound morphs and nothing is constant.  Sometimes the oscillating drone is more present - glistening and uplifting.  While at other times, it's a more noisy affair.  Chapels juxtaposes these elements in an alluring manner.  This tape demonstrably exhibits the aforementioned beauty of Chapels.  I like music that takes me places, and Chapels is the fuel for some of the wildest odysseys.  One may purchase this cassette, as well as the new batch, directly from House of Alchemy.

peace and love, friends :)