Five years ago, during a period of down-time in the affairs of the now-disbanded Agalloch, Jason Walton began working on a new musical endeavor, one in which he indulged a taste (and a yearning) for experimentation that has been manifested in differing ways through other Walton projects such as Self Spiller, Especially Like Sloth, and Nothing. The result is a head-spinning EP named Yeast Mother: An Electroacoustic Mass, which is about to be released under the name chosen by Walton for this particular endeavor — Snares of Sixes.
In order to achieve his kaleidoscopic visions for the recordings, stripped down to the four tracks that appear on Yeast Mother…, Walton enlisted contributions from a significant number of artists, whose names we’ll list below. But first, here are a few reactions to the track from Yeast Mother… that we’re bringing you today in advance of the EP’s May 5 release by Crucial Blast. Its name is “The Mother’s Throat“
Photo by Cody Keto
Like the other tracks on the EP, “The Mother’s Throat” can be at dissected in a way that yields at least a partial description of its sounds and sensations. But it’s one of those creations that really defies linguistic specification, batting mere words away like pesky flies. Of course, that won’t stop me from trying.
The music is playful and perverse, mercurial and somehow mesmerizing, chaotic and paradoxically cohesive. The head-snapping snare rhythms (which are themselves in flux as the song unfolds) provide a kind of twisted spine for the mutated tissues that boil off of it — python-like electronic slithering, pulsating tones, heart-like pumping sounds, slashes of abrasion, strange warbling emissions, distorted words, lacerating shrieks, currents of melody you might not even realize are there until afterward, and something like bursts of radio waves from space at the end.
Who would guess that such genre-mangling ingredients could be stewed together in a way that would be mesmerizing, with wisps of its strange twists continuing to haunt your head well after the clock runs down on its length? Yes, it may indeed be a form of delirium in sound, but it also (perhaps unexpectedly) proves to be addictive.
Photo by Cody Keto
And now for that complete list of artists who contributed to the creation this unorthodox EP:
Jason Walton – MIDI mangler, Synths, Vocals, Bass, Guitar, Melodica, Oscillators
Marius Sjoli – Vocals, Guitars, Synths
Robert Hunter – Vocals, Guitars
Martti Hill – Vocals
Andy Winter – Guitars
Nick Wusz – Vocals
Nick Loiacano – Vocals
Lawnmower Pete Lee – Vocals
Nathanael Larochette – Guitars
Stephen Parker – Guitars
Don Anderson – Guitars (on “Retroperistalsi”)
As you might expect from reading that list, Yeast Mother… was recorded all over the world. It was mixed at Earth in Sound Studios by Jason Walton, mastered by James Plotkin, and features graphics by Marius Sjoli and artwork by Aesop Dekker.
Crucial Blast will issue Yeast Mother: An Electroacoustic Mass on digital and six-panel digipak CD on May 5th. We’re also happy to tell you that Snares of Sixes is currently working on a live lineup in order to start playing gigs in the months ahead.
To place pre-orders, go here:
Snares of Sixes:
https://www.facebook.com/Yeastmother
Crucial Blast:
http://www.crucialblast.net
https://www.facebook.com/CrucialBlast
https://crucialblast.bandcamp.com