A self-entitled EP, Crow 44 is actually a sampling of songs taken from over twenty-five albums of super-obscure lo-fi bedroom music. Multi-instrumental recording artist James Pants was hunting through cobwebbed corners of the internet for “vampire music” when he discovered the lifelong works of elderly North Yorkshire-based musician Desmond Pierce. Tethered to elements of shoegaze, Pierce’s music is a sort of ambient dream pop—if your dreams are eerie, twisted Tim Burton-esque fantasies.
In “Love You To Death” the haunted strums of an occult guitar open the door to Pierce’s warped world of creepy, jittery ambiances and diaphanous melodies, where contorted interludes of feminine vocals float across dark empty spaces. “One Orange” introduces elements of sputtering brass and unearthly synths which make for a trippy, dark-funk feel. There’s a nice beauty to the mellow shine of “If You’re Feeling Down, Pt. 1,” but there’s something slightly disturbing about that voice and those tingling, uncanny bells—I had the weird vision of a spider weaving a web around its prey while lovingly singing a death-lullaby (yes, I was substance-free).
After a storm-swept interlude the EP moves towards chillwave territory. “If You’re Feeling Down, Pt. 2” and “Let’s Do This Thing” are guided by brighter percussion, shimmering synths, and more complete melodies. The former is instrumental with a hint of melancholy-tinged madness, while the latter almost gets its eighties-groove on before detuned whines and tremulous textures overtake it. The closer “Lamentations” floats you up into a hazy crush of distorted melodies and gently scorching guitars—it’s the most modern-sounding of the bunch. Certainly though all the music on here deserves recognition for conveying that sense of well-formed uniqueness that only prolific dedication can bring about. And so if you really enjoy the songs, then lucky for you, there’s a lot more where that came from.
