Over the latter half of 2008, Seattle, and the world at large, was introduced to The Sight Below, a producer of dreamy soundscapes who’s debut album Glider caught the attention of taste-makers around the world, among them one Thom Yorke. Befitting of the atmospheric environment he creates with his guitar and effect pedals, the man behind the scenes remains a predominantly under-the-radar presence. Besides the few erstwhile Seattle ‘heads that recognized the locally active producer/promoter at his performance at Decibel last year, The Sight Below remains largely anonymous to the growing number of fans he is attracting.
A few days ago, at Wall of Sound, a minimally designed CDR package caught my eye. Affixed to the front was a small sticky note from the shop owners that read ‘Locally created shifting beds of electronics’, further piquing my interest. The back simply read Crystal Hell Pool (whoa) along with a yahoo email address. Ye olde intrewebbes reveals an equally mystifying virb.com profile, and some vague rumblings on local, minimally minded singer-songwriter Tiny Vipers‘ myspace page.
The music within is a little less doomy than its awesomely freaked-out namesake would lead you to believe. Brightly colored, but muted drones scrape by at glacial speed, as minute clicks and pops provide reliably repetitive mechanical texture. Considering its enigmatic provenance only throws you deeper into shoe-gazing head space.
If anonymity allows these two producers to continue producing such subtly evocative soundscapes, then by all means, please stay lurking in those shadows.