James Shearman — The Wall Bears Traces

The Wall Bears Traces severs up two thick ‘n’ bone grindingly heavy takes on the walled noise from long-term UK creator & scenester James Shearman. With a total album runtime of just over seventy minutes.

This two-tracker is a digital-only release. With the cover artwork taking in a stark monochrome pattern Rorschach test-like image, which is simple but effective visual portraying of what awaits you inside. To check this out for yourself drop by here.

The release opens with “Metaethics Wears Black Hose” which is the shorter of the two tracks here at the 21.10 mark. It’s built around a central ‘n’ weighty mid-paced low-end rolling tone- this is surrounded by very subtle micro tone crackle, pop, and sear. The whole thing feels like the sonic equivalent of being continually flattened into the sticky black as-night tarmac by a several-ton road roller. The whole thing is set in a barren yet thick pressing air of ultimate hopelessness.

Next/ finally we have “Naked Waller Hums In The Shower” which takes up the lion's share of the release at the 50.17 mark. It opens with a few seconds of stuck & pared-back glitching tone- then all of a sudden the mass/ weight of the whole thing drops in. The ‘wall’ has a decidedly chugg bound, yet at the same roughshod feel to it- as we find a relatively loose blend of low-end/ blunt juddering, slurred rattle, and shifting sways of distant grit ‘n’ graze. Where the first track was terminally focused in its intent, here we find a less defined & uniformed feel- but damn is it still hellish thick, and shoulder buckling in its weight.

The Wall Bears Traces is a truly unforgiving dive into thick & crushing walled noise form. With Shearman tooling both tracks for maximum skull pressing intensity, where is zero escape or let up.