Functioning nicely as a teaser for the upcoming Half Blood full length on Relapse, this two track 7" sees Jenks Miller further indulging in the traditional minimalist sound that has underscored much of his previous work, but also a more overt embracing of his southern rock roots.
Miller also performs in alt-country band Mount Moriah, and that bit of southern twang bleeds over into "On The Eclipse".Meshing straight ahead southern rock with acoustic guitar pop and traditional keyboard sounds, the song musically feels far more conventional than I had expected, with the exception of Miller's growly demon vocals.The appearance of an extended guitar solo and spacey keyboards pushes the piece into a krautrock dimension in the latter half.However, the track never loses the mantra-like repetition that Horseback has always done so well, coming out in a tightly disciplined structure.
On the flip side, "Broken Orb" more fully embraces that classically minimalist sound, mixing ambient keyboards with slow, repetitive guitar layers.Other than the distant, gunshot like percussion, the track stays in a meditative, calm place throughout its seven minute duration.
I'm feeling the more rock (as opposed to metal) sound Horseback has been working with recently.Not that there's anything wrong with metal, but that combination of traditional rock instrumentation with the minimalism that’s more Charlemagne Palestine than Sunn O))) becomes a more unique beast when everything comes together.If this is a preface for Half Blood, it's going to be an awesome one.Plus, this single comes with a Horseback branded vinyl cleaning cloth, which is an odd bonus.
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