Claustrophobic at times, pretty and beautiful at others, dark, atmospheric and foreboding even
by svoovis
By Mike Bond / UK Music Search:
There must be something in the water around the Cactus Killer studios in New York, seemingly everything that comes out of there infused with some kind of glittering brilliance. The aptly titled CAVERN MUSIC, is a collection of densely claustrophobic folk music from Russell Hubley; a New York singer/songwriter with a neat line in dark atmospherics. Coming on like Devendra Banhart blended with Ian Curtis here, Hubley creates probably the darkest sounding folk you've ever heard - swathing everything in dense layers of noise and effects. Opening with the Leadbelly standard IN THE MINES, this is perhaps Hubley at his starkest and most stripped back - just an acoustic guitar to back his fragile vocals, cracked and tender. The Joy Division inspired drum beats that herald in INCANTATION 1 are more in keeping with where the rest of this record is heading, a simple bass line and walls of white guitar noise propping up Hubleys vocals. Title track CAVERN MUSIC plays out like a spooky nursery rhyme, the repeated vocals rubbing up against hypnotic percussion patterns; INCANTATION 2, more an art rock collage of atmospheric guitar noise and random sound effects. With UNBORN SUN, Hubley makes out like Robert Johnson introduced to the joys of effects pedals and feedback - twisted blues at the centre of a sonic maelstrom of white noise, slide guitar licks and chaos. THE DEVIL LAUGHS AT ME manages to sound like John Lennon fronting The Stones on the Exile On Main Street sessions, whilst GHOSTS with its "headless bodies on the train" dark lyricism pulls the same trick, but this time has Charles Manson writing the words. Its not all white noise and sonic mayhem, Russell Hubley also finds time to work in the odd slice of pretty acoustic folk here and there - songs like HEAVEN OR SOMETHING and QUIET TIME providing the more tender moments on CAVERN MUSIC. Covering Phillip Eno's MY NEW DAY towards the end, Hubley gets to the heart of the song; reinventing it as an alt-rock slice of Americana. Claustrophobic at times, pretty and beautiful at others, dark, atmospheric and foreboding even, CAVERN MUSIC is a record that proves hard to define. Part folk, part experimental, part industrial, part art rocking noise mongering - CAVERN MUSIC may not fit easily into any one category, but like all the best music is a record that leaves you clambering for more, reaching for that play button and hungry to relive the experience all over again.
