Diving Bell - s/t
(Ace Fu)
China Pig's Tip-toe Through the Hatching Chamber is an album that completely amazes me. Though the band was just bass, guitar, drums, and clarinet, the end result was greater than the sum of its parts. Their only full length album, Tip-toe Through the Hatching Chamber, is easily the slowest building record I have every heard. And, even when it reaches its peak, there is a gushing uneasy undercurrent of soft noise and naturally created atmospheres that still amazes me whenever I listen to it.
The appropriately titled, Diving Bell, is the collaboration between Craig Colorusso (guitar, field recordings) and Joel Westerdale (drums), both formerly of China Pig, and their self-titled record is nothing short of breathtaking. A diving bell is a large bell shaped container made of a combination of glass and metal. The bell can be large enough for multiple people to stand in, and it is placed in the water, allowing individuals to stay underwater for a long period of time, a perfect description of the feeling you get when listening to this band.
Since their China Pig days, Colorusso and Westerdale have moved in an even more experimental direction, combining thick soothing drones, picked guitar, and slow, simple, pulsating drums. Blurred by the ocean's depth, the sounds echo through the murky water, swirling, whirling, surrounding, and mesmerizing the listener.
|
