Cassette Review // Realtree "SPLENDOR FALLS ON EVERYTHING AROUND" (Eh? Records)

 

http://www.publiceyesore.com/ehcat.php?eh=114 //

We open with the sounds of birds and footsteps through grass.   It's quiet and minimal but it feels like I can hear cars in the distance before a sharp note comes through.    Some sharp notes eek out as strings are plucked.   This all seems to happen single file until one louder note comes out full blast and wavy.   One note at a time, this is somewhat spatial.   It feels like a distorted symphony, but distorted more in the way that it's stretched out than how you think of a sound as being fuzzy.    We push on through, one sharp note at a time.   Notes get deeper like ohms and then they begin to screech their way out.

Louder plucking now and it appears as if we have made it into another song.   There are beeps and twists like a robot- somewhat like Wall-E- but it's just so abrupt.   We dive down into the darkness now.  Deep bass.   Through the plucking of the strings now and a muted horn we get vocals which aren't really singing words so much as making sounds.    Some back and forth notes come in now like "Jaws".    If not for the sharp little bursts that come in every so often this would be quite relaxing.

This has the feeling of a broken symphony to it in the sense that I feel like each element of the orchestra is pulled apart and played by itself but if you put it all together and let more of the sounds play at the same time it would have a very classical feeling about it.   The notes still come out sharply but not quite as much as before.   We dive into the ocean for some back and forth bass which just makes it feel like we're floating.   The strings get a little bit sharper and we're onto a full on race.  

We're back to walking through that grass, sounds off in the distance are louder like a racetrack.   This brief trip back to where this side started takes us to the end of the side as well.

On the flip side we begin with notes coming on strong and then a softer drone which has that single note ringing with it.  There is also this sound behind this which sounds like a car engine failing to turn over.   The strums are blissed out now as there is this cross between a knocking and something glitching going on behind it.   It's the sharpness and the static now, which is just such a great combination.   Quieter now, it sounds like we're outside with cars going by.  This whole cassette never really sticks with one sound- at times it feels like we're in that field recording but only for a moment and I like that about it.

A hollow knocking and slow motor roar now.   It sounds as if words are being distorted before more strings follow.   A series of notes plays into sharpness and I feel like this is having an unexpected affect on my hearing.  It's like a dog whistle but for humans because of how your ears must adjust to the sounds.   This takes us back outside and I can rather clearly hear the cars beeping now as they pass by.   In some ways it just sounds like the orchestra is going on the road, finding a new location to set up and play.

A "hello" brings us back to the sound of horns (or woodwinds really) and brief string plucks along with them.  With starts and stops this one just has a desolate way about it.    In some ways, the string plucks and electronics feel like a failing transmission from space.   You can hear the wind of outside once again as we've opened a door.  Cars and some screeching like something heavy is being pushed around.  We're back into a field recording now.  I imagine this ending in a way which visually would just see the artists pack up and leave, walk off into the distance and fade to black.