Small Hours — Whisper, I love You

Here’s another release in the new batch of the ‘Neon-Wall’ releases from Lurker Bias. And this time around we have two tracks from Small Hours- which is one of the key projects of creative-yet-controversial UK walled noise artists James Killick- who is known for his often lighter/ pop-culture themes. And with this release he’s once again selecting a rather un-dark & surprising theme for the two walls on offer here- American pop/country singer Linda Ronstadt, who was one of the biggest stars of the 1970’s.

The release features two side long tracks, and first of these is “Whisper, I Still Love You”. The track opens with a sample from Ms Ronstadt’s  1978 single “Ooo Baby”, which is a cover of The Miracles original from 1965. Ronstadt’s take on it is a slow & swooning bit of white soul pop, with some nice smoky yet cheesy sax on top.  With-in less than a minute Mr Killick's ‘wall’ has started to rise, as the sample slow dies back. He starts things off with this tight & nervy blend of chopping textures, and fairly soon this is joined by a twisting & hissing element, as he slowly but surely builds up a complex weave of subtly shifting noise textures. Along the track length we get shifts in the taut chopping pattern-nation, shifting snippets of cut-up hiss, looser-more stretched & wind-tunnel like buffing blended with snaking like snapping paths, and beyond. Killick skilful & precisely moves from one textural blend to the next, and with each shift he masterfully changes both the atmospheres & pace of the track- from nervy & taut, onto aquatic yet detailed, though worming & churning. Towards the end of the fourteen mintue ‘wall’ the song sample reappears, as his texturing fades back out.

Moving onto the second side, and we have “Drowning In  A Lake Of Tears”. Once again it opens with a sample from a Ronstadt song, and this time it’s a track called "Don’t Cry Now"- which is from the 1974 album of the same time. What we have here is singer-songwriter piano pop ballad, with a more than a slight pop country tinge to the proceedings.  With in 30 seconds Killick’s textures have appeared- to start with we have just this skittering yet tight buffeting ripping pattern. As the Ronstadt sample totally fades we get a blend of pelting tense static & knocking-to-scapring-to- ripping like pattern-nation. Just like the first sides ‘wall’, as the minutes tick by Killick skilfully shifts pattern blends, from one creative yet Moorish mix after another- we go from blends of different types of buffeting ‘n’ battering textures, though to mixers of coarse tumbling & slightly skittering knockings, onto two speed juddering ‘n’ jittering blends. Once again towards the end of the track the sample comes back in, as Mr Killick’s textures die back.

Whisper, I love You is another great release from Mr Killick, as each wall shows both clever texturally diversity, well conceived composition, & a sly dose of fun.. but ultimately this is great, great wall-craft!.