I’m sure that a lot of you remember well Acadia, the debut album of Tim Waterfield, aka Karhide, released in 2010.
The Southampton native artist is back with a new EP that will be released next June 17th via the independent label Field Records. Rough Sleep is going to blow your mind with its 30 minutes journey. The 5 songs offer some truly haunting Post-Rock/Post-Metal riffs. I listened to Rough Sleep again and again and I’m still in trouble in defining this album genre of music: it isn’t 100% Post Rock and it isn’t 100% Post-Metal.
What I can say is that it’s a fine balancing act of the two with electronic elements inside. Very loud moments are mixed with the quieter post-rock creating a great effect. Tim Waterfield’s music of is in fact influenced by a multitude of genres and the outcome is a unique style of noisy electronic, post rock and post metal. Indeed the first thing you'll notice about this album is the change in the rhythm throughout its songs.
The opening title track, ‘Rough Sleep’, was originally composed for a fundraising compilation for homelessness charity Shelter. Karhide gave his contribution together with other huge bands like Four Tet, Karma To Burn and Wire. The starting of this song will remind you of a military march accompanied by an electronic beep but this effect will disappear soon leaving the whole stage to a guitar riff that will make your head bang uncontrollably. I really like the clean post-rock guitar melodies at the last part of the song.
The following ‘Piano Run’ seems to be a continuation of the previous song. This track has a typical post rock start with an electronic beat that imposes the rhythm to the whole song and is built on two levels, the piano and the guitars, that alternate creating a memorable vertigo. Approximately four and a half minutes into ‘Piano Run’ and we get a great melodic break. Gorgeous stuff.
Forget the piano melody and go into a ‘Daydream’ dimension where you can recognize the influence of someone like Four Tet but in a darker version. This song is a mix of sounds that evokes also a mix of feelings. It’s sweet in some part, dark in other and sometimes is frightening. It’s a song full of tension and would be perfect as the soundtrack to a drama film. I see it perfect for Requiem for a Dream: Darren Aronofsky should consider this tune for similar kind of movies. ‘Daydream’ will keep you breathless till the end.
‘Excerpts from sleep (MAB Rough Sleep Remix)’ is something never heard before. It’s the marriage of the best electronica with the best post rock: it’s a sort of rock-electronic that indicates the fact that Karhide has no long term plans in his mind, but instead always try to explore a found sound, record it, and again move on to the next thing.
The concluding ‘Ego Plusher (Mender Rough Sleep Remix)’ is again a new experiment of Waterfield that will bring you out of this world into a spatial dimension where the only admitted creatures are the instruments that create an original sound I could never define, augmented amply by the rhythmic mastery of Ash ‘Mender’ West-Mullen. The only solution is that I recommend you listen to it carefully.
Rough Sleep deserves that you listen to it many times and each time you’ll be able to discover new sounds and new shades. And this is the power of this EP. Rough Sleep is really a breathtaking record that I have had great pleasure in reviewing.
Have a listen and enjoy then, there is a great deal of potential here.
