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irr. app. (ext.)/Mykel Boyd, "Dented Switchery"/"Compare Me to a Shadow"
Usually any 7" singles I buy get a couple of spins and are then consigned to a box, only occasionally dusted off for curiosity's sake. However, this split single from Matt Waldron and Somnimage boss Mykel Boyd is something special. All week I have been putting this on and getting lost in the unfortunately brief pieces.
Waldron’s contribution has been “extracted and distilled” from his classic Perekluchenie album. This collage style of music can be difficult to do effectively within the constraints of a 7” (especially when there is only one side available to the artists) but “Dented Switchery (Wretched Density Mix)” works well in this format. The paranoid sounding stringed instrument morphing into a rasping drone, like a rusty gate that needs oiling, “Dented Switchery” is one of Walrdon’s more unnerving pieces.
Boyd’s “Compare Me to a Shadow” is definitely the star of this pair of tracks. At first, I thought my record player was broken (well, more broken than it already is) but the scratchy rhythm blossomed into a dusty beauty. The piece begins quietly, static-like pulses and what sounds like a recording of distant traffic. Towards the end, strange glissandos stream through the piece like shuttles from another dimension.
There is also an art edition limited to 100 copies available which features signed and numbered prints from Waldron and Boyd. Waldron has included a drawing of one of his mysterious and unsettling chimeric beasts whereas Boyd contributes a stark and baffling image of an egg in a cage. I feel these prints are worth the extra money but, in these cash-strapped times, I do not feel that they substantially add to the listening experience. That being said, the listening experience is wonderful and the 7” is more than enough value for money on its own.
