This remastered reissue of elvis depressedly‘s breakthrough ep ‘holo pleasures’ fell with a gentle thud on my digital door mat recently and I’m very glad that it did. Originally released in 2013, it’s back with an additional track and a slightly altered track-list and my word what a glorious thing it is- tender and intimate and everything that home-recording can be when placed in the right hands.
Scuffed and fuzzy, these songs exist in a narcotic blur – where guitars chug and everything fizzes with a stoned ambience. It’s also possessed of a sensitive and soulful heart where impactful melodies glide and entwine despite the ocean roar of the production. In that way, the early home recordings of Bill Callahan feel like a sonic link in their crackling urgency but this is, undoubtedly and undeniably, very much Mathew Lee Cothran’s world – a world, if you haven’t already, that is one to become swiftly acquainted with.
Lyrically desperate at times but never oppressive- a sort of cryptic rawness is key. There are contrasts at play in these words where obfuscation and openness seem shiver in tense juxtaposition. And tt takes a strange skill to sing words like, ‘i’ve become a catacomb of secrets fucked up inside’ and make it sound almost serene. Opener ‘okay’ is an understated gem whose direct yet paradoxically evasive lyrics are woven into a simple but potent melody. Everything throbs and pulses within a distorted haze as cheap beats trickle along in the background and ambient keys whirl and whir.
‘inside you’ clatters along nicely too – it’s pop psyche melodies and wordless chorus offering another thing of beauty. ‘Weird honey’ has an almost Bowieesque warble and captures with clarity elvis depressedly’s original approach to lyric structures and formats – where words spill in strange shapes that coalesce around images that surprise as much as they intrigue.
“…if there’s a cool spot in hell i hope you get it”
There’s a deft touch to the subtle additional instrumental sections too- this is unfussy music but it isn’t throwaway- there’s a curious precision here despite the audio fog. ‘teeth’ is as seductive as it is claustrophobic – the Pixies-evoking ‘oohs’ building as the squelching synths gather – crafting something arresting despite its simplistic brevity. ‘angel cum clean’ has something approaching a religiosity about it- the siren-like vocals whispering around church organ swirls- and, like all these spaced-out songs, it gets under your skin somehow- it offers more than it should be able to – with each subtle addition playing it’s unsettling part.
“…angel cum clean you are not what you seem I was taking Xanax listening to codeine…”
‘thinning out’ is the most straightforwardly beautiful moment on the collection – damp synth gurgles and sci-fi shapes simmering around those Beach Boys evoking melodic lines and massed vocals. It’s enough to make the heart swell. ‘rock n’ roll’ strips things back even further – like a psyche exercise in James Tothesque confessionalism that builds into something else again – I can’t help but hear the Beatles too in the sweetness of the vocal melody that develops as the song gains pace.
All in all, this is a really wonderful rerelease of an already wonderful set of songs: something special that deserves to find its place in your heart. It’s certainly found a place in mine.
Written by M.A Welsh (Misophone)
Music | Misophone (bandcamp.com)
