Bedroom recordings, no matter how they take shape, always come with a quality of earnestness and passion that recordings elsewhere tend to lack. There is an element of voyeurism in listening to a bedroom band, knowing that you're only one step away from a musician's process, barely even one stitch removed. On Log Across The Washer's phenomenal Pancakes tape, which released through Crash Symbols last month, the closeness was refined but still personal. Now, on a new release that Tyler Keene put together over the previous weekend, the closeness is almost so touching that it's oppressive, overpowering. The Slaughterland EP takes hints of the Velvet Underground and Guided By Voices and melds it with a waterlogged guitar a la Mac DeMarco to result in adept, precise, and emotional songwriting. Any closer to the heart of the sound and we could hear Keene breathing.
You can stream Slaughterland below, and then head to Crash Symbols for the Pancakes tape.
