Elsinore — Self-Reflection

Self-Reflection is a six-track CDR/ digital release that brings together strummed-to-roaring no-wave guitar playing, mumbled male vocals, and vaguely harmonic sax wonders. It’s a release that comes off like less coherent & more forlorn Fog, edged by horn tones- that barely, and I mean barely hold the tracks together.

The Elsinore project is a  Pittsburgh duo bringing together RJ Myato- whose solo work dips into a few different facets of noise making. And Luke Farkas, who currently plays in  Skeletonized, but in the past played with Triangle and Rhino. This is the third release from the project- with the first two releases been digital downloads. With RJ on guitar & vocals,  and Luke on Sax.

The six tracks each run between just over a minute and nearing three minutes- with a total release runtime of spot on the fourteen-minute mark. When you first play the release the tracks seem fairly inter-changeable; but over time you start to pick out faint trails of harmony in the sax, and later some pattern/shape to the guitar tones. You can only vaguely make out the vocals- with these work more as a stark & strung-out detail to the all-over sound. Considering it runs under fifteen-minute mark- it does feel longer( in a good way), with the pair mixing in some subtle touches of variety along the way- be it more churning glumness from the guitar, smoky eastern charm in the horn, or slugging-yet-bouncing guitar slams.

After hearing a few of RJ Myato more creative noise bound releases- it’s nice to hear another side/ facet of his sonic personality with Self-Reflection. And on the whole, I was once again most impressed with what’s on this CDR, finding it very much of a grower- in the best sense of the word. Head here to score a copy.