This murky combination of raw electronics and mistreated guitar that knows when it’s time to roar, and time to just menace makes for a strong entry into the vinyl world for this relatively new project. What a debut it is though, in an ambiguous letterpressed sleeve and heavyweight marbled vinyl. Luckily, the quality of the music presented (a live session for WHPK radio) matches the packaging quite well.
Consisting of two side-long tracks, the first half begins calm and restrained, near silence but allowing a subtle bed of chiming guitar to slowly but surely increase in volume and makes its presence known. The guitar begins to shriek and howl in ways Leo Fender and Les Paul never intended as more frightening electronic elements begin to creep into the mix. From such humble beginnings it becomes a complex intertwining mix of sinister sounds and ends rhythmically with a locked groove. I must admit, my first listen to this while I was doing other things caused me to be stuck on that locked groove for a good five minutes or so before I realized it was time for Side B. The sound was diverse enough that I listened for that long without realizing it was just literal repetition.
The flip side starts where the other left off: a harsh mix of guitar abuse and ventilator white noise keeping the ambience dark before eventually allowing a rhythmic bass element to underpin the increasingly violent guitar. While the first half exercised restraint, the second half is much more chaotic with low frequency siren tones, feedback solos, and looped guitar elements vying to be the center of attention before all retreats and the track ends in a slow disintegration to silence.
As a whole Greyfield Shrines holds my interest as there are definite elements of drone and noise, with both trading off as being the prevailing motif, but the actual sounds set it apart from similar artists. I'm happy to hear actual guitar tones in drone rather than just overdriven A minor chords, and also in noise without the battery of effects layered over it to render it unidentifiable.
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