Hoor-Paar-Kraat, "A Whisper in the Sow's Ear"

Another month and yet another release from Anthony Mangicapra, this time a perfect little EP of unsettling ambiences. Together, the three sinister sounding pieces on this release are a slight change of course for his Hoor-Paar-Kraat endeavour. There is less emphasis on collage work and more on developing potent drones and this approach has seriously paid off.

 

Small Doses

The sounds on the main piece, “Secrets from a Silk Purse,” come from a recording made by Mangicapra at a gallery where (with the artist’s permission) he bowed a sculpture and later processed the metallic drones into their present form (although there seems to be minimal post-production work here). He uses a far more limited palette of sounds on this compared to his other releases, the drones only accompanied by the occasional cough or sound of a door closing (presumably in the gallery itself). The result is a powerful and singular approach to sound, even if it is not a million miles away from Nurse With Wound or Organum territory.

This EP sounds fantastic and the 3” CD format suits the trio of pieces, allowing them enough time to unfold and remain thematically coherent but not allowing any room for filler. Plus considering this is a larger pressing than most Hoor-Paar-Kraat releases, hopefully more people will catch on to this consistently remarkable project.