El Heath, A (Rather) Dead Sea Liner (CDR Dead Sea Liner)

text

El Heath plays sea shanties on deck of the ship of the damned, constantly struggling to be heard above the chatter and mumblings of its passangers.

This five-track EP starts off sounding more like an old 78. El Heath performs on an out-of-tune piano further distorted by lo-fi recording acoustics and accompanied by the whirl of rickety machinery straining to maintain power. On his second attempt, the artist is back in the engine room, now trying to tell his tale through the asthmatic breathing of a harmonium. Still, he is like a storyteller trying to get heard over the chatter of numbskulls.

For his third attempt, a catchy melody is heard clear as a bell over a dark bass undercurrent while a foppish, over-articulating Englishman repeats something about a "sunny spot". By the final track, the voice of the latter is more clearly discernable - he must come from some old gardening instruction record.

Otherwise, both in name and spirit, this track says goodbye, a dirge-like coda for the vessel disappearing over the horizon. Despite the reiteration of the open (if dead) sea, El Heath seems more interested in the element of air - everything breathes heavily, machines powered pneumatically - the old, the out-of-order, and the acoustics of closed space. Too rarely do I get to say: A truly unique sound and vision.

http://www.deadsealiner.co.uk