Human Bell
s/t EP

THE REVIEW

Cinematic digressions on a desert theme. 

Another album with nothing superfluous, skeletal as the ruins of a house abandoned on the prairie for centuries.

Only two guitars, nothing else, intertwining sound webs atop one another. Nathan Bell (ex-Lungfish) and Dave Heumann (the one from Arbouretum) play at complementing each other and enchanting with a maze of chords. A revelation. Energetic and American rhythms, reminiscences of times gone by, until they run aground in the laconic "Darker Waters," a pool of still, murky waters, lightly tinged with a certain melancholy. And off we go again on sandy paths, which are hardly fitting to their home state of Maryland. The departure, though evocative, has a faint post-rock flavor that slightly clashes with the path tread so far.

Total lack of directionality. Few variations, but sounds that glide smoothly under the skin and induce an almost reassuring torpor. Music that quietly leads to a trance-like state where one cannot help but tap the rhythm, captives of the repeating melody.

The thin edge that separates bluegrass and desert rock, distortions that enliven the canvas's hues.
"Something to listen to when in city transit, hovering, pondering or mating", as they say. But why not also sitting in front of the stereo, letting oneself be hypnotized by the dance of these chords?