House Of Low Culture

Following the demise of Isis (which was a sad day indeed around my household), there was still plenty of material to come potentially as the band’s membership was active with side projects throughout the life of their main creative outlet; and the potential reactivation of the seemingly dormant House Of Low Culture was an exciting proposition as I had grown to love this particular project of Aaron Turner, but this time Turner is joined by Faith Collocia of (Mamiffer, Pyramids, Everlovely Lightningheart) and have spent the last couple of years seemingly preparing to deliver Poisoned Soil (evidenced in the release of one of the songs and other songs that maybe did not make the album being released in some form on a split cassette tape with the duo’s other project, Mamiffer).

In some rather selfish ways, I initially felt a bit cheated by Poisoned Soil due to it only containing three compositions; but any emotions of this nature are quickly cast aside by the dense album that plays over the course of this 2xLP, and my only feelings that remain as the last notes of the record ring out are ones of awe and a weird sense of either isolation or desolation (I have not decided which, even after listening to this sucker a bunch of times). Even for a House Of Low Culture album, Poisoned Soil is dauntingly thick (even in the opening quiet moments of “Spoils Of The Forgotten Kingdom” which could be likened to the moments where you see a nasty thunderstorm bearing down on where you are but it is eerily quiet and calm but not peaceful); and in this opacity, Mr. Turner and his musical partner fashion mood and wield sound in both micro and macro manners as each tone seems purposeful and deliberate while the emptiness between the sounds creates a strange spatial identity for the compositions (for instance in “Spoils Of The Forgotten Kingdom” where notes seemingly fade off into the distance and come into the aural sphere just as subtle or the way the vocals call and response in “That Ladder Leads To Nowhere”).

Each time that I listen to this album, there is something new that I hear as if there are so many scattered sounds and details waiting to be discovered; and perhaps that is what makes Poisoned Soil so incredibly intriguing, House Of Low Culture has fashioned an album that is nuanced and beautiful where repeated excursions with the record are rewarded with new tantalizing sounds on which to feast your ears.

8.5 / 10 — Bob