Monday, July 6, 2009

Pink Priest - Cold Rock (Kimberly Dawn 3" CD-R)


Been hearing a bit about Pink Priest for a bit now, so it was a real pleasure to get this little 3" in the mail from Frank Baugh's new Kimberly Dawn batch. Wasn't disappointed either, as the four miniatures featured here present a nicely realized world of detached, chilly dronescapes that pull from a number of styles in their minimal, icicle conjurings.

The disc opens with the voluminous "Please Ma'am Pull That Door to," whose static scrapes have been emptied of all edge in the name of whispered caverns and echoed hints. Dripping rhythms percolate around, calling to mind a mix between Zoviet France concrete and airy droners. Slips right into "Wedding Cake," which is equally empty though with a bit of 80s new age keyboard sound fuming from beneath. Its quick and lonely, but quite beautiful, always just out of reach as it shimmies along into "It Melts my Heart," gaining momentum before cutting the chord. The following is the longest number here at 6 minutes, making it not only the most extended but also fullest number here. Swathes of air pushed around atop sterile hallway echoes and sci-fi twinklings of UFO radar sightings. Once it's off the blipping screen, its left to touch down in some fair field, lighting the dawn with its neon punctuations. Lovely. The closing "Gravel Kids" finds the ship traveling toward more aquatic realms, with the white waves hissing as they crash layer upon layer onto the beaches. Take another step in and it's a bit colder, the seaweed revealing lands yet unseen as mysterious black monoliths drift by. There's an intangibility on this that's tough to grab on to, making Pink Priest a true curator of patient revelation. Short and sweet as they say, with great Dark Side of the Moon/prog-style cover art by the musician himself. Another nice 3"-er from Kim Dawn, for whom this format seems preferred. Underused no longer, I say.

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