Relay For Death — Anxiety Of The Eye

Here’s a pro-printed and (I presume) pro-duplicated tape from No Rent Records. The front cover has a close-up of an eye, whilst the inside features a nicely confused photo of what looks like a ruined building. This sense of microscopic viewing, but also obscured vision, is something that carries over to the contents of the cassette. The release has two long tracks, one each side, amounting to about 30 minutes of music.

Relay For Death are a new name to me. The project is the work of the Spikula twins, Rachal and Roxann, the latter of which started up No Rent Records with the criminally overlooked - in my opinion - Jason Crumer. The two tracks on the album are perhaps similar in sound and colour, but their structures are quite different. Anxiety Of The Eye is the first track/side, and it begins with a throbbing electro-drone, strong and resonant. This pares back, before slowly ebbing out, and is replaced by a brief snippet of running water. Percussive hits then launch in, with junk-esque noises reverberating; since the reverb sounds very natural, I think it’s very likely that we’re listening to something like a piano or guitar being abused, with the reverb being part of the instrument’s resonance, so to speak. It should be clear by now, that Anxiety Of The Eye moves through ideas very quickly, though it’s obviously more collage than cut-up. This movement is not really overtly aggressive, it’s more a shifting of colour and timbre; however, saying this, the remainder of the track has more blown-out moments. After a piercing burst of shrill, digital noise, bell-like tones emerge, and the piercing noise becomes more breathy. This is then interrupted by stereo split rumbles - akin to long wires being plucked - before synth wobbles enter the fray, and threaten to destroy my speakers…

Western Sensorium, the second piece, has a much different construction. Whilst it would be wrong, and reductive, to call it a drone, that seems a fair description of the basic structure. Rather than a constant drone, however, it creates a sustained tension using a small set of sounds. It’s full of breathy sounds, peaceful, but eerie. These are complimented and layered with almost goth-like patch sounds, which echo in, establishing a tone that’s perhaps more outright creepy, than funereal. There are moments where the bass threatens to overload, and break into saturated sounds, but like Anxiety Of The Eye, there’s never any overt sense that Relay For Death wish to pummel or overwhelm. The approach is much more subtle, enticing, and exploratory.

This is a great tape - though much too short! I could have happily listened to more tracks. Both pieces are intelligent - especially in their use of space - and well-paced, and Anxiety Of The Eye, in particular, has a great range of varied and interesting sounds and colours. If you’re interested in different angles on musique concrete and drone, this tape might be for you.