cowp
by Michael Holland
As if 2020 hasn’t laden us with enough to think about, along comes Cowp cleaving that dreadful number in half and into a duo of tracks, packed with further anxiety. It’s Getting Dark and We’re Not There Yet (H#002) is beautiful (in its way), troubling and brilliant. The sound of too much going on, for a long time… twice. But in a good way.
Seemingly constructed from a box of diverse sound sources being furiously tweezered through, each single noise-crumb fleetingly considered, then tossed aside. Sliced and diced strobing cut-ups. Repetitive, but also completely not. ‘It’s Getting Dark…’ is a confusing mix of hyper-inattentiveness and precise, obsessive, long-form focus. I imagine Cowp as an archaeologist, dusting some presumed relic with a firehose and then having a rapid sort through the sodden, blasted, atomised bits.
The bits (a partial list):
1. Chattering insects
2. Crows a-cawing
3. Truncated parps
4. Gasps and screams / sharp intakes of breath
5. Radio blurs and shimmers
6. Rattling chains
7. Garbled speech
8. Church bells
9. Film audio
10. Creaked doors
11. Abrupt fleshy spanks
The only constant in this churn is the mangled melody of a sampled piano. Possibly jazz in origin, but now perverted beyond all thought of style. All of this (and more) happening all of the time for a long time. And it bears repeating, this happens twice. It becomes such a part of the mind over its length that the sudden stop at the end is a snatched-away tablecloth, a sudden bereft drop into stillness. A stillness you’ll probably newly appreciate.
‘It’s Getting Dark…’ is released by the recently returned Herhalen label, home of a many a brain-scorch. Cowp has two other recent releases well worth exploring: Jigsaw and Food, both with proceeds going to local charities. These releases are individually themed sampledelia; respectively, box-rummaging and cooking, like a further-out Matmos.
Cowp: music for if you’re not quite freaked-out enough yet.
