Delightfully contradictory triple split The Three Pound Enigma, featuring Dementia And Hope Trails, Boar, and Bob Bellerue on Null Religion. The front half of this massive c90 is entirely occupied by Dementia And Hope Trails (Justin Marc Lloyd), with four tracks of some seriously blissed ambient synth and guitar work. I've been happening upon a ton of recent ambient drone tapes, and this is absolutely one of the best yet. Huge, echoing and emotive movements. Generous washes of texture, all of it feeling like perfect and absolute harmony. Not astral, but perhaps more natural. Explaining how great ambient music sounds is always so difficult for me. It's like describing a warm breeze, or a perfect sunset. It just is, and this just is as those things are, wonderfully beautiful.
Now where this split really gets confusing, is on the flip, where Boar lays waste to the opposite side of the tape with thick, crusty walls of harsh noise. Big, crackling knob twisters that recall classic doses of power violence. It's almost hard to get your head into these tracks after being exposed to the ambience of the front, but I actually enjoyed the challenge. And for those that can do it, there is a nice level of depth to the chaos. The final track from Boar, Never This Desperate, features an absolutely ripping industrial vocal that I did not expect, and is by far the standout track on offer. The triple split closes with an almost 20 minute piece of introspective drone from Bob Bellerue. Creeping, menacing movements that shift and introduce new elements ranging from slow drawn lines to harsh oscillating chaos. Ghostly indeed. All of this stuff is legit.
Edition of 49, just seven left as I type this. Cool black and white split shells, which I assume is an aesthetic nod to the bi-polar nature of the release. Stream the whole thing and grab the physical at the Null Religion Bandcamp.
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