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Duuude, Tapes! Black Mare, Field of the Host

Posted in Duuude, Tapes! on July 23rd, 2013 by JJ Koczan

Those familiar with the ambience-prone style of vocalist Sera Timms through her contributions to outfits Black Math Horseman — their 2009 offering, Wyllt, still holds up — or Ides of Gemini, who made their first appearance with last year’s Constantinople (track stream here), will be fairly well prepared for the kind of atmospheres she brings to her first solo outing under the moniker Black Mare. The album, Field of the Host, is comprised of seven tracks, and found release this past Spring on limited vinyl through The Crossing and on tape through Breathe Plastic Records.

I opted for the latter. A couple weeks ago, seeing that Field of the Host was dangerously close to selling out on tape, I decided it was time to get one before it was too late. No regrets. Though it showed up with the case cracked — thank you, postal service — the package turned out to be of exceptional quality, with the liner printed on photo paper with lyrics inventively laid out on the inside two panels and the fold of the case, all designed by Timms herself. As I understand it, the vinyl came with a collection of her photos as well, but though there’s no room for such things with cassettes, Field of the Host brings an individual sensibility all the same to a format usually thought of as wholly lacking one — runes on the tape and a smoky dark plastic mirroring the sound of the full-length itself even as the stark font gives an impression of some of the songs’ minimalism.

There is plenty of that to be found in these cuts, I guess, but I have a hard time of thinking of Field of the Host as being bare in any way, mostly because of the echoing effects Timms incorporates for her vocals and the guitars, bass and drums — she plays all the instruments but for some extra guitar on “Fighting Birds” and “Ashlar” credited to Bryan Tulao — and the effectiveness of the atmospheres created. Stretches vary on either side of a loud/soft dynamic, “Saturn’s Grave” ending side one with what’s a cacophony as compared to the quiet moment of the penultimate “Isa” on side two, but in whatever context she’s working, Timms brings a consistently exploratory mood to the material, layering in sonically rich reverb and echo. Drums are present, but deep in the mix. Bass you almost don’t realize is there until it swallows you whole. Guitars rise out of the same fog in post-rock splendor — too clearheaded to be psychedelic, but as otherworldly as you please — and even with the side-change break between “Saturn’s Grave” and “Ashlar,” the dense hypnotism in Field of the Host is maintained front to back.

Principally, the music is evocative. It engages via atmosphere rather than hooks, and Timms creates a sense of wash from the first plucked notes of “Blind One” introducing the ghostly swirl that runs a thread throughout the album as a whole, bringing to mind any number of landscapes, most of them covered in a morning mist. Nothing throughout the tape sounds egregiously repetitive — that is, more repetitive than it’s meant to sound — but I can’t help but wonder what Timms would sound like with her voice not drenched in effects as it is here how songs like “Tearer” or the sweetly concluding “Cybele” might be shifted or the overall dynamic of Field of the Host might be different if that wash became, like the swells and recessions of volume, another element for Timms to manipulate along the way.

That’s not a complaint with the aesthetic of Field of the Host — more like a point of potential growth for Timms‘ next outing as Black Mare, which I hope is not long in arriving. Though her work in Ides of Gemini and Black Math Horseman has defined her career at this point, it could just be Black Mare that winds up as the truest expression of Timms as an artist and the vehicle through which she continues to refine her unflinchingly creative approach.

In the meantime, I’m really glad I bought this tape.

Black Mare, Field of the Host (2013)

Black Mare on Thee Facebooks

Breathe Plastic Records

The Crossing

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