Monday, January 25, 2016

Hollow Hand - Ancestral Lands (2015)

In a rambling sort of fashion I found myself reading wikipedia links from one page to another, something I'm sure we've all experienced. Today I found myself looking into illegal radio operations in the North Sea. You know, the type that they installed into wartime facilities miles afar into the ocean waters that British government had abandoned. This was even done by the respectable lunatic, Screaming Lord Scutch. All this got me nostalgic British music of the 60s. However, as a good anarchist will tell you nostalgia is not a terribly productive emotion, so we're gonna hear something new that just rings of 60s England.

Hollow Hand are indeed from England, from the capital of London at that. They've managed to hook up with the illustrious blog-turned-label Ongakubaka Records and put out an album on cassette on the 8th of this month. I am, as always, reliably tardy in delivering the news. Yet the tunes sound as good as ever despite my lack of punctuality. As I hinted at before, the album has a retro 60s psychedelic style, veering heavily into the harmonizing folksy kind, and not without a healthy share of Eastern instrumentation to be heard. Like much subtle and non-bombastic albums, it is rewarding to give it a few listens. Upon hearing all the nuances of the music and the exacting nature of the vocals it really begins to take on a life of its own within the listener's imagination. As usual for picks from Ongakubaka it is undoubtedly an album worthy of spending time with.

Finally, that album art is right up my alley. Hardly gets better than early modern religious paintings or iconography. After all, the background of this blog as been our boy Hieronymus Bosch for years.

To be had here:
Hollow Hand - Ancestral Lands


No comments:

Post a Comment