Svarte Greiner – Man Bird Dress
Having single-handedly created a movement through the acoustic doom stylings of his seminal ‘Knive’ LP, Deaf Center’s Erik K. Skodvin adds this beautifully packaged 12” record to his impressive Svarte Greiner repertoire.
Building and expanding upon the intricacies outlined in ‘Knive’, “Man Bird Dress” represents a fuller sound for Skodvin, touching on the moods and atmospherics developed by Post-rock overlords Labradford, notable mainly on the emphatic and all-consuming opening passage “Man” and similarly on closing number “Dress”, a huge cathedral sized, glacial drone.
Skodvin seemingly has a bottomless pit of ideas. The actual recording feels oppressive and live to the point that you feel as if you were present during the process. The creeping “Bird” will have you looking over your shoulder just to check there’s no-one behind you. Listen through headphones and you’ll be convinced the fretboard scratches and muffled footsteps are coming from somewhere else. The dense rain recordings and distant cello screeches only serve to heighten tensions, feeding on anxieties much like Hitchcock used to terrifying effect in that famous shower scene in “Psycho”.
Only brave souls need apply here, but be warned, do not listen to this alone and in the dark. Skodvin’s work remarkably manages to sound bleak, frightening, immersive and downright captivating.