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Hoor-Paar-Kraat, "In Eros Veritas"
With each new release, Anthony Mangicapra’s Hoor-Paar-Kraat becomes more distinctive and adventurous. I have enjoyed previous releases, some feeling more finished than others, but In Eros Veritas is probably the stand-out of the lot. Here many of the elements and approaches that work particularly well in other pieces come together like lesser metals mixed to form an alloy, creating a far stronger album.
Like early Nurse With Wound, there is a huge emphasis on strange sounds devoid of any real context. I know I have likened Mangicapra’s music to NWW before and I do not wish to pigeon-hole him as a tribute act but the ambient noises, squeaks and mysterious sounding cymbals of “Est Queadam Fiere Voluptas” could have been remnants from Steven Stapleton’s cutting room floor circa Homotopy to Marie. The Latin titles do not help with orientation (my Latin is restricted solely to anatomical terms and animal names), instead making the whole album feel like some dusty old recording taken from a strange library in a city that does not exist now and may never have existed.
Mangicapra seems to relish the details of ordinary sounds. The creaking door of “Materiam Superabat Opus” is opened and closed at a variety of speeds and intensities, changing the character of the sound completely, going from a spooky haunted house groan to an everyday back-door scraping. As the door is creaked for longer and longer, it starts to lose all its door-like qualities, becoming a crack in time itself. More musical sounds appear during the gritty “Acta Est Fabula, Plaudite!” Beneath the rasping metallic din, a low pitched rhythm that sounds like a bowed bass can be heard. It is mesmerising in its menace, sounding like some of the less riff-centred works from Sunn O))).
In Eros Veritas has been released both as a limited edition LP and a slightly longer and far more limited edition CD. Having only the CD release in front of me, I cannot comment on the presentation of the LP but the handmade sleeve of the CD is a tastefully designed card sleeve in the same style as previous Hoor-Paar-Kraat albums. A drawing of an Edwardian couple walking away opens to reveal the track listing, the credits and Mangicapra’s now familiar fingerprint (how many non-detectives become familiar with fingerprints like this?). As usual, it all seems to fit with the music contained on the disc. I do not know how or why but it all makes some form of sense.
I can find no fault with In Eros Veritas. Some of Mangicapra’s other releases have the odd duff track but here there is no unwanted surplus. Each piece sounds as strong as the one that precedes or follows it, all adding up to a magnificent album.
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