Blank Verse – Karelia Ingria CDR

Visceral Circuitry Recs

Yes, I knew this release from the moment I received the black and white photocopies booklet in a plastic sleeve on a blank CDR. The “bedroom” noise crowd. Not like we all aren’t bedroom noisers or anything but this is a specific brand I feel because a lot of this material seems like they are “half songs” or merely fucking around and recorded and then of course subsequently released.

Blank Verse almost had me tricked with “Vivian Krystal L.” one of the better tracks on here which is also the opener. Glassy synth lines converge with low throbbing industrial tones. This track definitely has a great thing going on and sets the expectations for the rest of the release to a higher level than what Karelia Ingria can actually provide.

The next few tracks aren’t really even worth covering here but I will to what I can to sum them up. Meandering synth lines with some noise, delayed vocals here and there. It all kind of melds into one and feels like a lot of wanking off. I can barely even handle it. The tracks need some direction, the production is too lo-fi and very ineffective.

Suddenly “The Cloud Machine” comes in and breaks my apathy apart. This is a track that has something interesting going on. Weird alternating synth, warbly vocals, a bongo in the background? It’s different and original with a thick sound and strange field recordings cutting in and out. This, like “Vivian Krystal L.” is where Blank Verse excels and his potential shines through.

It’s tough to hear a release like this with so much mediocre in it, but several diamonds in the rough. In the end it’s a good feeling because the artist definitely has potential it’s just about being able to harness that which can hopefully be done through quality control.

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