Heavy Gaze by Wonderful Beasts

Wonderful Beasts are boycalledcrow and Xqui.

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"As a prelude to their forthcoming album this has appeared. Wonderful Beasts are boycalledcrow and Xqui and are releasing a number of compositions to whet your appetite in anticipation. What’s more they are coming as ‘a name-your-price dl’. So what’s to like? If mind-expanding textures of evocative sound are what moves you, the answer is plenty. There is a live quality to the music they create and each of the selections are infused with either grainy intensity or a contrasting sense of hope. Let’s put it this way The Spirit Is Near, which completes, captures a world of sound to get lost and found in as the human touch of voice is wrapped around a lone, transient swirl of synthesizer."

magazinesixty
https://www.magazinesixty.com/wonderful-beasts-heavy-gaze-wormhole-world/

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"The titular track begins the EP. Applause fades away into a chattering hi hat that moves up and down under its own volition. A cold, mellow bell sounds out a touching melody as humming dissonance sorts itself into a tuneful sound. The pair of producers implement a beautiful layering of sound in order to create an engaging and emotive sound. The hi hat dies away, leaving the distorted noises to move freely and unrestrained from a rhythm. A synergy can be felt even from the first track. There is something about it that carries the positive aspects of each artist, and their styles only serve to amplify and champion the other.

Nebula sends singing strings toward the listener. They clamour for dominance over each other, until a lower more organic sound veers into the soundscape. The organic action of a string and bow is instantly conjured from the texture of the deep tone. Again, the sounds forego a set rhythm as they seem to work in a sporadic tandem together. Wonderful Beasts shoot reversing snares towards us at the end. A beautiful atmosphere is created, one that ranks texture and dynamic above easy syncopation.

Heavily distorted fuzz peels off the back of slow-moving bell sounds. The bells decay as they draw too near to the listener, with a razor sharp crackling fringing their movement. The deeper sounds move and seep in and out of the mix randomly, but none of the dynamic is lost in this process. The two artists gently guide sounds into view, rather than trying to be shocking and grandiose in their approach. Light drumming begins, caked with reverb it disappears almost before we can hear it.

Home begins with a muffled stomping sound slowly making its way to prominence. Juddered samples of plain synth notes are actioned over the top, the melody they play simple and calming. The listener is fooled into thinking that the song will be a minimalist affair, until beautiful reverbed piano careers past the samples. The duo practice a keen ear for effective sequences.

The Spirit is Near shocks at its beginning with artificial voices placed directly in front of the listener. The first instance of (recognisable) vocals on the EP, even in their roboticness, they are comforting and welcome. The pair go about filling in the nether regions of the mix with glittering chord arpeggiations. The voices fall away as the harpsichord-like sound starts to become more pronounced, rising from a clearer point. The voices charge again, layering over each other in breathtaking choral moments, before receding beyond a gauze of echoes.

Each artist can individually create impressive songs; both make soundscapes teeming with texture and beauty. On Heavy Gaze, the effortlessness of the two working in tandem is gleamingly obvious."

listencorp
https://listencorp.home.blog/2020/02/29/wonderful-beasts-heavy-gaze/

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A Wonderful collaboration between @boycalledcrow_
and @XquiMusic. Second album Magic & Myth, coming soon.