Inspired by the aftermath of a mental breakdown which occurred in 2013, slowcore project, Drowse, became the vessel for Portland-based musician, Kyle Bates, to express his real life battles through art. Following the excellent Memory Bed EP from 2016, Drowse returns with Cold Air, a dark, intimate, self-exploratory, multifaceted record written during Bates' descent into drug and alcohol addiction, and his recovery from them.
For Cold Air Drowse draws influence from the writings of Anne Carson and Karl Ove Knausgaard, while it dwells on a sound that does not feel very dissimilar to the likes of Mount Eerie, Grouper, Planning For Burial, and Have A Nice Life. The album was recorded in the course of nine months in Bates’ house, which appears itself in the final production as random field recordings and background noises.
On the whole Cold Air drops like a brutally honest representation of the frustration and bitterness in real life's chaos, balanced by the warmth and hopefulness that come with rehabilitation, and the detection of that distant light at the end of the dark tunnel. Ultimately it emerges like the most exhaustive, emotional and compelling set of songs Drowse has produced so far.
Album highlight, Klonopin, comes with a self-directed video whose beautiful visuals emerge like a seamless match to the song's intimacy.
ZR