Various Artists
Frozen In Time: Music to Accompany the Films of Ingmar Bergman [3XCS; Black Horizons]

Have you seen the lineup for the Frozen in Time: Music to Accompany the Films of Ingmar Bergman triple-cassette? Insane: Persistence In Mourning, Fear Konstruktor, Swamp Horse, Terence Hannum, Ryan Unks, and King Dude (retroactively scoring six Ingmar Bergman films, respectively: Persona, Face to Face, Wild Strawberries, From the Life of the Marionettes, The Serpent’s Egg, and Summer with Monika); if not even one of these names wrinkles your nose, you’re not reading the right column (and I’ll have you know there are penalties for that kind of thing). Quite an ambitious, illustrious project that pays off in spades if you’ve got the time to spend with it. Swamp-Ho (nom de plume of Husk Records dude Josh Lay) get the first at-bat and play things pretty safe, to these ears, but keep in mind I’m experiencing the audio without the visual accompaniment. Multiple layers of drone support what almost sounds like an impromptu choir singing through a synth, with guitar swipes eventually taking centerstage for the remainder of the production. A pounding, timpani-style instrument also makes a bold appearance, rounding out a fairly wondrous mixture of light-psych bliss and reverence for the material he’s creating a soundtrack for. Hannum’s contribution simmers peacefully at first before warping and boiling over into a dark-drone nightmare that mysteriously disappears down the drainpipes of your dreams. A throb kicks in soon after and we’re back where we started. Luckily, it wasn’t so bad in the first place. King Dude, if I may skip around a bit, turns in a side I wouldn’t have suspected he had in him, though he’s spewed a lot of releases I haven’t had the fortune of hearing. Very misty, cold, and dark until a fragile acoustic sound source emerges and a foghorn (or didgeridoo; or whatever) joins it. From there I’m not even sure where this is going any more, and that’s half the thrill. T.J. Cowgill whirls together a wind tunnel or two, blows on that horn, sets back in the gloom and pretty much owns shit. He claims he recorded his contribution with but an acoustic guitar, hand drum, two gazelle antlers, and a pen, but that’s… fuck brother, can we call the fifth instrument studio trickery then? Agreed. It would give me pleasure to recount the other three sides of music for you here, and yet I’ve already gone much longer than the Cerbs charter allows so we’ll have to part ways now. Frozen in Time is limited to 200 copies and replete with the aesthetic sense you expect from the lofty Black Horizons label.

Cerberus

Cerberus seeks to document the spate of home recorders and backyard labels pressing limited-run LPs, 7-inches, cassettes, and objet d’art with unique packaging and unknown sound. We love everything about the overlooked or unappreciated. If you feel you fit such a category, email us here.

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