Thin Mountain — Ten Steps to Thin Mountain Steps 4-5

Ten Steps to Thin Mountain Steps 4-5 is the first release in a few years from Thin Mountain, one of the many projects of American noisemaker Sean E. Matzus (Black Leather Jesus & Last Rape). The C60/ digital download serves up a single fifty-five-minute track, which moves through some textural & atmospherically rewarding shifts.

The release appears on Wicklow, Ireland-based Hibernian Leather. I’m reviewing a digital copy of the release- so can’t comment on the C60 release.

The single track comes in at fifty minutes and fifty seconds. It opens with a mix of tautly woven/ slightly beaded judder ‘n’ jitter- which is underfed by gently bucking static hiss. And as I said in my introduction, the track shifts through some rewarding stages- be they textural or atmospherically, or both. At around the thirteen minute we shift into a mix of awkward comb ‘n’ picking tone, which is sat upon a mesh of steadily trending static grain. By around the thirty-eight minute, we find a thick mat of droning ‘n’ rolling low-end, topped with a buck ‘n’ light swishing textural blend. At the forty six mark- we shift into a mix of choppy ‘n’ chopping tone glitch, which is wrapped in a fold of sliding 'n' slipping grain mapping.

It’s great to see Mr Matzus return to his Thin Mountain project, and I’d say Ten Steps to Thin Mountain Steps 4-5 stands as some of the best work he’s done under the name. As the track is full to the brim with rewarding shifts ‘n’ turns.