Cassette Review // Spectral Habitat "ATLAS" (Verses Records)

$8 //
https://versesrecords.bandcamp.com/album/atlas //

The first sounds on this cassette make me think of organ tones but then I can also hear them as strings.  It has a classical way about it, the way one might driven to a fight, and then these ominous tones lurk in the background which give off more of an eerie vibe, like something out of "The X-Files".    Whirrs come through like ghosts and this just feels haunted now, which is always a place I like to be.   Listening to this at night could evoke certain types of dreams and yet in the daytime it is not calm and peaceful but it is less unsettling.   There is some angelic about it as well so if you're thinking of such ghosts this would find itself more in Heaven than in Hell.

A quiet darkness now is minimal like the fog in a cemetary.  There is a faint sound like crystals dancing and then they fade out.  Though this can feel like a certain level of doom, there are these voices coming through once again in that angelic way which just makes it actually feel peaceful now.   I could imagine being somewhere, surrounded by nature, and just relaxing in some sort of water while all of the rest of the world is just out of my mind and body.   It picks up now with a bit of crackling distortion.    There is a holy presence to this sound as well.

The sound of highly plucked strings come in with hums and oooooh's now as this feels like the chorus or bridge of a rock song.   I'm not sure how, but in some way this is even reminding me of Delta Dart for a moment.   Then it all calms down and those angelic voices return.   The singing sounds almost pained, trouble and it just seems to lift up and off, disappearing with the end of the song.

On the flip side we have these whirrs cutting through with tones almost like a carousel behind them.   This creates an idea of friction, somewhat like you would expect from a helicopter but also in a dreamstate sort of way as well.    The vocals return though without saying any words they feel primal, like a call from nature.   Everything else becomes isolated, left only with the sound of this voice to echo out into the world.    The tones, like an accordion now, seem to rise and fall with the vocals.

A more vital sound comes through now.  This could be a bit of bamboo percussion- such as a rainstick- but it just feels like such an urgent transmission coming through the wire now.    It feels as if it is opening up now, like the dawn, and yet I'm also reminded of a darker place like one created by NIN in "The Great Below".    Tones come through now in a keytar way, but they are slow and drawn out.   They make for a nice song as the vocals return behind them and this has that ghost angel feeling about it again.   As we build you can hear the thunder crash as we've gone into a full on storm.

What starts off sounding like a funeral builds now with these haunted tones behind what are vocals but feel like they're on the verge of screams.    Somewhat like video game keys, this just overall has found itself in a place where it's haunted and uplifting at the same time- which is strange because you either feel like you're in Heaven or a tortured soul but never both at the same time.