Deathbed Convert is Connor Dougan`s latest alias. I was a big fan of the previous one – Ai Messiah. This new project is less machine-orientated, instead focussed more recognizably on Connor`s guitar. Thematically it draws not on the looming Singularity but, in contrast, the countryside of Dougan`s remote island homeland, Toraigh, and the idealized landscapes captured in the silver iodide calotypes of pioneering Scottish 19th Century photographers Hill & Adamson.
Within the 9 short sketches Fender b-lines run backwards while acoustic picking and steel slide woo one another. Mapping shared dreams as cherubs` harps hover in and out of the mix. Organ keys are pressed firmly down. Their shushed sustain made to stutter, and rise in swells. Wind chimes glisten like jeweled fish in the breeze. Microtones buzz in lo-fi post-rock Steve Reich-inspired repetition, and sound pans from left to right – roaring like a jet rushing towards take-off. 6-strings sing slow and electric. A cicada chorus accompanying the Peter Green-esque virtuosity. Sitar signatures in there somewhere.
Shoegaze, spacerock and Durutti Column filigree – muted orchestras of reverb-ed piano, strings and sonar blips – are all employed to describe – a “bleak beauty” – a galaxy of emptiness where suns used to be. Mountain Far features jazz-influenced licks – think Jeff Buckley or Johnny Marr – that move between unrequited romance and flashes of frustrated rage. The title track, Debris Of Echoes, has descending bass notes take turns with high frequency figures. Its smoky, slightly psyche feel perhaps a vamp on Roy Budd`s Hallucinations – finding its winding way back to Planet Earth, and the blues.
Available as a limited cassette or download, Deathbed Convert`s Debris Of Echoes can be purchased directly from Touch Sensitive Records.
Reference Links
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