Korber / ErikM / Nakamura / Otomo

A mood of foreboding, tempered by an ebbing of exhaustion, flows through the two pieces on Brackwater. The opening title track moans and skitters around one energy level for its 20-plus minute duration, with disquieting, source-defying sounds echoing throughout the empty chambers of the abandoned state prison where the album was recorded. Only Tomas Korber’s guitar occasionally signals a human presence. The second track, entitled "and a slice of bread,” promises flight beyond the walls with its sampled footfalls walking and running through dry leaves, while static-laden radio voices suggest a search party is in pursuit. The landscape becomes confusing and impenetrable, densely packed with alien sounds, which disorient any directional sense. The four gentlemen are able to create paranoia, fear, boredom and panic without resorting to stock haunted house effects. Instead they play upon our associative impulses and instinctive need to put a name to each sound (and our fear when we can’t).