Demdike Stare - Forest of Evil

This is the dual work of Sean Canty who is involved in the Finders Keepers label and fellow Manchester cohort Miles Whittaker (MLZ/Pendle Coven). The LP is comprised of two parts: Dusk and Dawn. This is very good indeed... It's sort of dark occult ceremony/ ritual soundtrack music, doomy and heavy. It builds slowly with sinister sub bass and strings and some spacey dub techno effects and keys no doubt the work of Miles. The transition between styles is super slick and before you realise it you're in different sonic territory. Then there are shades of dark ambient and almost jazzy flourishes. Both sides are doing it for me but I reckon Dusk is probably my preference. Towards the end of 'Dawn' the track breaks down into a sort of Caretaker sounding hauntalogical sound complete with almost dub-steppy bass. Nice ouija board artwork by Andy Votel.

Demdike Stare, as far as I can work out, are one half of Pendle Coven and a fella that works at the Finders Keepers label.  The only things I've heard previously from Demdike Stare are the self-released 'Part One' LP and the Osmosis CD, both of which have left me pretty much speechless.  It's a mixed bag, at times giving Modern Love style subtle house offerings, at others soundscapes and drones, using samples from pretty much the world over.  There's always a sense of timelessness about their work, and this new LP is no exception to that.  It's the first of three albums to be released this year, and is split into two pretty lengthy tracks that span a side of vinyl each.  It's quite a dark and moody affair, starting very much on a paranoid, ambient tip, and building into some sort of dark house, before disappearing back to soundtrack land.  My words aren't going to do this release justice, but I really can't recommend this lot enough, probably my favourite release on Modern Love so far too.  Move quick, there's not a lot of copies of this in circulation.