Cassette Review: Ben Spiers / Months "House Sitting"

[£4.50 // Edition of 40 // https://benspiers.bandcamp.com/album/house-sitting]

This is my second time listening to Ben Spiers, in terms of it being his second release I'm listening to that is to say, and it comes in the form of a split with Months which seems like a good deal because "Consolation" should have sold you on Ben Spiers to begin with and now he can sell you on Months.

The Ben Spiers side of this is somewhat like his other cassette only it's not.  It begins with this rattling synth boom which turns into this sort of static skipping.  There are scratching whirrs over lightsaber drone and then there is a pause.   It returns with beeps, like when you're hooked up to a machine at a hospital and it's transmitting your pulse.   This becomes a little bit like drone, which would be better if I didn't feel like I was flatlining.   Some dial tone comes out and then it starts to sound like a whistle dying with ringing mixed in for good measure.     The beeping then transitions into this electric guitar note vibe that I remember from "Consolation" and i remember that I like Ben Spiers because the music he creates is like magic.

Months picks up Side B with a ringing dial tone.   There are these dings or beeps that come in and have a constant hum behind them.    Layered in with this next comes a piano loop which is somehow pushed towards the background of everything else.    Specific tones come out next, though I can't place where they're from, and they go back and forth in a pattern before seemingly losing their rhythm and end up sounding like batteries dying.    Some whooshes and other sounds come in next to try and balance it all out.   It's part whale song and part beeping noise of some kind meeting its end.   In any event, it's rather good and should be experienced so it can tell you its own story.

I predicted going into this that Ben Spiers would create a great piece of music and then Months would win me over as well, and that prediction did come true.   But I never really expected it to be this good and I don't really see how anyone could have forseen something of this magnitude.