Amsterdam-based production duo Spill Gold grace Knekelhuis for their debut LP, ‘Highway Hypnosis‘, consisting of seven unnerving and left-of-centre songs that sit comfortably with the Dutch label’s repertoire.
Spill Gold’s musical aesthetic strikes a chord instantly, modern variations of something near to krautrock dipped in old-school pop, flecked with 80’s neurosis and hardware soul. Gritty, minimally processed vocals summon false nostalgia as they flow out over the saturated basslines, curt percussion and grain-fed guitar leads.
‘Oyster‘ leans heavily into psychotic discomfort, the introductory words seemingly sampled and subsequently alienated from a backwater Youtube guided meditation sequence. The disquieting tone of the male voice rapidly descends into shocking, anxiety-inducing commands, their sense spiralling out of control as cymbals tremor in tandem, lifting the pulse into shivering crescendo.
Brittle and rigid percussion form a glass backbone as the song leaps from this mental mayhem, before gradually slowing into a cool yet dark groove — a sense of calm, but at the expense of complete peace.
‘Highway Hypnosis’ is scheduled for release 23 November via Knekelhuis. Order a copy on Bandcamp.
TRACKLIST
1. Beast Machine Alien
2. Highway Hypnosis
3. Ecotone Part 1
4. Oyster
5. Burning
6. Ecotone Part.2
7. Bird Soul