house - house

House 

House
self-released; 2014

3.6 out of 5

By B Parker

House is a four track EP from Tom Moore. Recorded in his house and completed in just a few hours, House has the tendencies of dream pop with a few other bits and bobs thrown in as well. It's guitar based (no drums) with both music and voice given a slight echo. The final product is surprisingly professional-sounding given the circumstances under which it was made.

All but one track fall under the three minute mark. Of those three, one is an instrumental/sound collage piece. What we're given with House are brief glimpses into a heightened sense of anxiety. “trk 2” is the standout of the group for several reasons. On one hand it's hypnotic, the melody built around a tumbling guitar riff. However, the lyrics themselves are somewhat disjointed both in ideas and pacing, disrupting whatever balance the music had. I absolutely love this. Some of the the lines are incredibly disquieting (“Don't you wish you knew/I'd have fucked you for your words”), and if you're just floating in and out of the song lines like that are going to force you back in.

“trk 1” and “trk 3” are both more upbeat musically but still carry a sense of worry lyrically. These opposites play well with one another and are made more effective by the tracks' short run time. 

The closing track, “trk 4,' is a subdued and remorseful instrumental backed by the sound of a mechanical whistle. The few notes played are repeated as various found sounds are introduced and removed. It's more of an experiment than anything else and could probably end sooner than it does (the last forty seconds or so are a strange hum and followed by silence). But it's a nice way to end the EP regardless.

Quickly consumed and enjoyed, there's no reason to not check House out. Fans of dream pop and space rock will find familiarity in at least one track, and fans of the unusual can take away a lot from Moore's writing.

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