Pillowdiver – Cassette Recordings

Pillowdiver is the solo project of Berlin-based musician René Margraff. Perhaps best known to Fluid Radio readers for the full-length Sleeping Pills which appeared on 12k in 2009, Margraff is also responsible for two EP’s titled Tony On A Bike and Elliot, Lou and Bill under the Pillowdiver moniker. In addition, the busy Margraff has also been performing as one half of experimental duo Two People In A Room – with the self-released Wrapped In Plastic and a eponymous album on Home Normal the result.

Cassette Recordings was recorded with little planning or fuss, the process involving Margraff making use of a Fender Jazzmaster and a selection of effects pedals which were then directed into a 4 track cassette recorder. Cassette Recordings seems to benefit from the unique texture which only lo-fi magnetic cassette tape can accurately reproduce and this approach, added to the unfussy naming of tracks by the date in which they were created and the simple packaging courtesy of Analogpath, all serves to create the impression of an unpretentious musician confident in his ability to produce music which stands on its own merit.

The album’s six tracks are dated between 10th August – 26th November 2011 and from the opening number there are echo’s of Margraff’s work in Two People In A Room, with a more overtly bleak and distortion-heavy feel to the music when compared to the relatively cleaner tones of Sleeping Pills. Despite the similar style and tempo of the material within Cassette Recordings and the way in which each track seems to blend into the next, the effect is not at all dulling and this author would be happy to listen to endless hours of the same slow exploration of Margraff’s fretboard without ever growing tired of it.

Cassette Recordings is a fine example of what a talented artist can produce when limited to barebones recording techniques in order to highlight that which matters most of all, the music itself.

Available now through Stashed Goods in a limited run of 100 CDr.

- Adam Williams for Fluid Radio

www.analogpath.com