Waterless Hills’ mesmerizing 8” lathe cut features elements of Eastern-European and Middle-Eastern folk music melted into the coldly stark foundations of droning post-rock.
The group, which consists of Andrew Cheetham on drums and percussion, Gavin Clarke on bass, C Joynes on guitar and DBH on violin, improvises across the record’s two haunting tracks as if they themselves are under a trance.
“Waverley Cross” whips and curls like a sidewinding viper ready to strike, while “The Empty House Of The Son Of The Vali Of Pusht-I-Kuh” stalks quietly through a mournful world of shadows ghosts. These songs, each partially inspired by Freya Stark’s “Valley of the Assassins,” are rich with smoky violin whines, which sway around spectral guitar licks and hypnotic drumming. Much like Stark’s travelogue, the music here truly takes you on a distant journey that you’ll never forget.
The packaging of course needs a moment to be appreciated. The record is lathe cut into a transparent square piece of vinyl, and is lovingly housed within a hand-stamped velum envelope with a screen-printed sleeve. Also provided is a postcard insert, a badge for the band and a handmade clay token and badge by the label, Sonido Polifonico.
While copies are currently sold out on the group’s Bandcamp page (only 99 copies were made) but you can still purchase a digital download there. You also might still be able to get a physical copy through the label’s website.
-KH
Record Crates United 