Coil Sea – Coil Sea

There is always the temptation to pigeonhole music, to try to break down the myriad component elements into one common characteristic, or to attempt to find a singular reference point to describe it…

You could point to the “Similar Artist” suggestions that sites like LastFM use, the “Genius Recommendations” function in iTunes and “People That Bought X Also Bought Y” amendments at Boomkat as examples. Scroll down a little further – there are some recommendations at the bottom of this review, most likely.

Coil Sea, if inserted into these types of applications, may cause them to shut down in overloaded confusion, or at least grind to a crawl while they try to process the multiple points in the material presented to it.

Divergent threads – Welsh post punk, Seattle garage, 70’s stoner, minimalist Krautrock, Australian math and countless other recognisable subgenres flare out and are then jostled to one side by competing moments of recognition. Which is odd, as the originality on display here is striking – it’s a mark of how much I enjoyed it that I’m reaching for ways to describe it. The point that I guess can be made here is that there’s a warm familiarity to the sound, despite it being a very unique one.

“Abyssinia” kicks of with a burst of bass, followed with an insistent kick pedal beat and repeating guitar motif. It’s a real attention getter, and the record grabs the ear from that point and maintains. Not unfair to describe it as hypnotic, but that does no justice to the raw energy and subtle menace in the sound.

“Dolphins in the Coil Sea” is described as homage to jazz/noise legend Sonny Sharrock and is apparently a largely untouched live third take recording. Pretty impressive musicianship in that case, some blazing guitar work that really brings to mind some heavy 70’s guitar pyrotechnics in an appropriate way.

“Revert To Dirt” from the outset hints at a desert jam but wrong foots the listener into a foliage-laden trip into industrial minimalism, locked down by muscular bass and restrained drum work. The outing turns aquatic about six minutes in, and devolves into some frenetic cerebral groove and noise.

Closing track “Waking The Naga” has a snappy and insistent pulse that breathes in and out when the layered guitar drops in and out of the mix. The gnarled ending is titanic and drones into a fantastic record closing feedback tone.
It’s stated a few times in the note accompanying release that the organic and minimalist approach was to capture the live performance in the room without interference, and that’s thoroughly evident in the tone –

Coil Sea is a collaborative and mostly improvised recording project featuring David Heumann (Arbouretum, Human Bell), Matthew Pierce (Arbouretum) and Michael Lowry (both of Lake Trout and Big in Japan) and Walker David Teret (ex-Arbouretum, Anomoanon).

The project began when Lowry and Pierce invited Heumann to sit in with their long-running instrumental project Big in Japan for one performance of a month-long residency at Baltimore’s Windup Space. Heumann and Arbouretum had recently finished a European tour, and the show with Big in Japan enlivened his idea to record improvised performances with a loose group of familiar but unaffiliated musicians. Heumann’s goal was to record with few set ideas and little editorial input, allowing the music to develop naturally as the group coalesced. Heumann’s performance with Big in Japan had also included percussionist Michael Kuhl (Red Headed Temper, Jenny Boyle and the Drivers), so Heumann invited Kuhl, childhood friend Jimmy Wallace (guitar), and his former Arbouretum and Anomoanon bandmate Walker Teret (bass) to join the session.

Chris and Mickey Freeland recorded the first session on a Saturday in September. Only one song (“Abyssinia”) had a pre-written melody; the rest of the performances were composed and improvised on the spot, with the only verbal directions being references to tempo and key. A portion of the recording from that session was edited and mixed with Freeland, and later with Rob Girardi at Lord Baltimore Recordings, for the album tracks “Abyssinia,” “Revert to Dirt” and “Waking the Naga.” Much care was taken to preserve the spirit and feel of the original takes, even as effects were added to the original tracks, instruments were brought in and out of the mix and performances were cut and spliced.

The release as a whole bristles with energy – it totally captures the sound and feel of a dimly lit, sweaty room with a handful of talented musicians grinding out completely spontaneous experimental rock noise. It brims with vital ideas and tones, and most music tragics could find an authenticity to the delivery that would endear it to them. – Review by Alex Gibson for Fluid Radio

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