Andrew Liles — The Dying Submariner

The Dying Submariner enchantingly submerges the listener in underwater landscapes, that drifting with dead bodies, and lost ships. But also of mystical cities of coral and pearl in the deeperist cannons of the sea, never before seen by human eyes.

Andrew Liles has managed to cokes from his piano and echo effects, such exquisite and often darkly rimed ambient tones. Though out the four tracks he drifts from almost blinding beauty to octopus ink dark tones. Using what may seem such a simple thing as piano to paint such, a level of audio detail, it really is a celebration of the pianos many voices, and of course Mr Liles apt ear for rich sound weaving. Part one finds a man in an copper driving suit twisting over and over falling though, dark choppy seas, is frame just twisting and twisting, we keep glancing his paniced face through, his glass viewing portal, Liles stretch out deep tones from the piano. As the track goes on the tone seem to lighten, or possible it’s just acceptance of the driver to his inevitable death. All of the tracks have similar feeling, but there is variation as Liles experiments with the tones, making each track into its own drifting sound tale.

A rewarding and lush watery sound treat. As usual with Beta-lactam ring records releases, the artwork is  wonderfully. A sturdy cardboard gate fold, with a bizarre picture of a deep sea fish on the cover, it’s blind eyes starting out at you, and inside a eerier shot of a driver been swallowed up by darkness.