Grant Evans, who is also of Quiet Evenings alongside his wife Rachel (aka Motion Sickness Of Time Travel) and co-curator of the Hooker Vision label, is the brains behind Nova Scotian Arms. Throughout numerous releases, he has shown a consistent ability to keep listeners guessing as he explores endless sonic territories. With Cult Spectrum, Evans is drowning himself in a hazy aural sea. Like much of his work, there is a very distinct mood on Cult Spectrum. This is funereal music that is stretched to the breaking point -- distant echoes are buried underground in a delicate mix of sounds that are as cosmic as they are organic. This duality is at play straight-off with the masterful opener, "Gathering/Composition." Soaring in crystal skies on beds of hiss, each strained note from Evans' Rhodes piano emerges from the murk like an anchor keeping the song and the mood forlorn. Tape-loops and radio interference deliciously muddy the waters on the 16+ minute "Emulsion," combining all those and more into a cacophonous stew. Acoustic guitars circle around in a swirling synthetic drain -- each wave emerging in stages as Evans shows considerable compositional skill in the way the piece is put together. With "Overcast (1st Delay)" comes a melancholic, skyward glance, taking shape through tonal dichotomies. This is the sound of dissonance sculpted and shaped into something far greater than the sum of its parts, leaving its mark long after the final, ghostly seconds of "Hearse Overdub (Decomposition)" fade away. Evans is digging a tunnel, heading straight for the sun. Mastered by Lawrence English and cut to vinyl at Dubplates and Mastering, Berlin. Limited to 500 copies only.
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