Cold Air by drowse
"Why am I afraid of my own thoughts?"
After a severe mental breakdown, Kyle Bates of Portland OR's Drowse was prescribed a plethora of antipsychotic drugs to subdue his paranoia and suicidal ideation. Several unmedicated years later Bates’ anxiety began to resurface, and he turned to Klonopin and alcohol to blanket the intrusive thoughts. It was during this time that Bates wrote and recorded Drowse's second full-length album, Cold Air. Marked by fanatical self-exploration and expansive detuned instrumentation, Cold Air is the project's first release for The Flenser.
Drowse is a peek inside the mind of Kyle Bates, the band's only full time member. Cold Air was painstakingly recorded over nine months in Bates’ home. The house itself appears several times on the album in the form of field recordings and background occurrences. Although Bates himself is a secular person, his lyrics were influenced by the religious writings of Anne Carson and Karl Ove Knausgaard, whose ruminations on death correlated with his own. Cold Air is an album that frames big picture ideas within intimate, often shame-ridden experiences: a nose broken while blackout drunk, a seizure followed by feverish hallucinations, a father’s stroke, the death of a close friend. Cold Air is the sound of the uncertainty beneath our lives surfacing.
The shimmering dissonance with hints of slowcore, post-punk, ambient and shoegaze that characterizes Cold Air will appeal to fans of Mount Eerie, Planning for Burial, and Have a Nice Life. Many of these songs feature vocals from the band's creative partner Maya Stoner. Drowse is a complex and layered project set apart by its raw ambition.
Tracklist
| 1. | Small Sleep | 2:22 |
| 2. | Quickening | 4:05 |
| 3. | (Body) | 0:29 |
| 4. | Rain Leak | 4:59 |
| 5. | Klonopin | 3:47 |
| 6. | (Bedroom) | 0:50 |
| 7. | Death Thought | 4:33 |
| 8. | Two Faces | 5:47 |
| 9. | Put Me to Sleep | 3:23 |
| 10. | Knowing | 5:00 |
| 11. | (Person) | 0:39 |
| 12. | Shower | 8:47 |
Credits
Written and recorded by Kyle Bates at home in NE Portland and in a basement in SE Portland from July 2016 to March 2017.
Maya Stoner sang and wrote melodies on “Quickening,” “Klonopin,” “Two Faces,” “Put Me to Sleep,” “Knowing,” and “Shower.”
Taylor Malsey sang on “Rain Leak,” played violin and wrote melodies on “Death Thought” and “Shower,” and created drum loops for “Put Me to Sleep.” His cassette recorder was used on many aspects of the recording.
Cut up sections of an interview with Kathy Kroeger were used on “(Body),” “(Bedroom),” and “(Person).”
Alec van Staveren played electric bass and wrote melodies on “Quickening,” “Rain Leak,” “Put Me to Sleep” and “Shower” and played double bass on “Knowing.”
Kevin Gwozdz wrote and played the synth parts on “(Body),” “(Bedroom),” and “(Person)” on a Yamaha Portasound.
Hadley Bates helped record wind chime sounds used throughout the album.
Mastered by Parker Johnson.
The cover art is a photo of old, dead flowers that have belonged to Andrew Bates for over 24 years. The photo was taken by Maya Stoner.
Design, layout and other artwork by Maya Stoner and Kyle Bates.
Thank you to my mother, father and sister and Maya Stoner, Alec van Staveren, Kevin Gwozdz, Taylor Malsey, and Parker Johnson for your constant support in times of high anxiety and uncertainty–Jonathan Tristan Tuite, Julio Anta, Daniel Schultz, Nicole Colbath, Mat Miller, Kristina Esfandiari, and Thom Wasluck for believing in and supporting my work–every psychiatrist who has seen me; life is narrowing as I age but my mind is in one place now.
