Widow Park - Feeding Your Desire [Needle & Knife - 2015]Here we have a double CDR release from Widow Park; which is one of the walled noise projects of Australian based noise maker Shaun Mack-also of Morte Cammina, Girl On The Bridge, and Bleak August. And runner of the great wall noise only label Needle & Knife, who put out this release. The set take in five tracks in all- two on the first disc, and three on the second. The tracks have running times of between fourteen & forty two minutes. The plain white CDR’s come in a double sided/ fold-out black & white paper shelve, and this takes monochrome collage artwork which is made up of various S&M, and aged porn pictures. So with this, the releases title, and the track titles I’m guess the overriding theme here is kinky & controlling sex. So first up on disc one we have the track “Proper Treatment”. This comes in at the just under the forty two & a half minute mark, and is the longest of the tracks here. The ‘wall’ is a very dense & suffocating blend of rapidly yet simplistic rumbling ‘n’ billowing noise, which is roasted by a thinner mesh of searing, feasting & chalky static. There is some very slight variation in both main texturally groups- but really this is a nasty & bothersome slice of unpromising & cruel wall-craft. It’s an ok opener, but I felt it did go on a bit too long, as my mind started to wonder around the mid way point. Second up on disc one we have “Leave Me Here”, and this comes in at the eighteen minute mark. This ‘wall’ brings together a bed of muffled, blunt & fixed juddering- this is topped with a few dense & slightly alternating machine like jitters & rattles. I really like the body pinning yet head drilling urgency of this track, and for me it’s much more entrancing/ effective than the first track. Moving onto disc two, and first up we have the track “Bringing In The Night”- which is the longest track of the second disc at just over the twenty four minute mark. It’s built around the following elements: A set yet violently churning wind texture, a murky, meaty yet slightly aquatic rumble pattern-nation, and a blunt lashing rain storm on/off pelt. Each element seems to be moving at slightly different speeds, and this creates a rewardingly three dimensional 'trapped inside a box' like feeling. Track number two on disc two comes in the shape of “Necessary Control”, and this is the shortest track at the whole set at just over the fourteen minute mark. This ‘wall’ is built around a blend of thick ‘n’ pelting lower to mids- these are weaved with a selection buried, hacking & slightly hissing bands of thinner static showers. Together these create a rather captivating slice of wall-making with worthy yet spiteful layer detail. Last up on disc two we have “Tell Me What You Want”, and this slides in at just over the twenty three & a half minute mark. This ‘wall’ sees the blend of a series of two or three layers of thick judders ‘n’ rattles- tonally these have a fairly narrow lower to mid range. I’m afraid to say this was my least favourite track of this release, as the textures used feel more than a little bland & predictable in their raging simplicity- sure I understand that Mr Mack is trying to create a truly body battering & totally uncompromising bit of ‘wall-craft’, but to my ears it’s just felt rather dull & un-involving.
So in summing up this is fairly mixed release with effective & raging ‘walls’ sitting along side less inspired, bland & by numbers HNW. Certainly this is not my favourite of Mr Mack’s out-put, but is does have it’s moments, and if you’ve enjoy his past work you might enjoy this too. Roger Batty
|