Poorly Drawn House – (compilation)
Poorly Drawn House are a slowcore rock ensemble from Spartanburg, South Carolina. Little is known about the artist bar the names of the lineup, though their inspirations are clear. Drawing from acts such as Bardo Pond, Bark Psychosis and Carissa's Weird and Duster, the band fuse low-fi rock and folk elements to cultivate a personality of their own among the troubled genre. Their results are divine, yet slightly off centre.
The album opens with two of its best songs, Like the Winter Evenings and Stretched Out Like a Telephone Pole, the former boasting a rocking Rodan lite moment and the latter incredibly well composed post-rock elements. Despite Blurry People (Distorted Faces) inserting hip-hop vocals half-way through, it’s done stylistically, and the later-inserted saxophone and violin elevate it to higher levels. Dream Fasting is fairly straightforward, in line with Duster, taking a simpler-more-hypnotic approach, as opposed to the masterful amalgamation of disjointed elements that made the free-form opening tracks stand so strongly on their own. It’s apparent Poorly Drawn House’s strengths lay within their blend field recordings, ambience and slowcore rock; any time either genre is singled out, it sounds too straightforward, such as on Dream Fasting. Thankfully, these moments are rare, and the album is impressively consistent throughout. The album ends with two more of its best tracks, Do You Look at the Ceiling and The Dilating Crescendo, the latter ending the album flawlessly with a gorgeous blend of the elements that preceded it.
Instrumentally and compositionally, there’s little to fault with (compilation). The vocals lack confidence, however; a grander and more pronounced vocal delivery in future may be all that is needed to lift Poorly Drawn House off the ground. Furthermore, some of the execution is sloppy, though most of the time it works in the artist’s favour. Lastly, there’s much needed room for a larger arrangement of electronics on the next album; hopefully this is an area Poorly Drawn House will explore. Until then, enjoy their latest release down below.
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Poorly Drawn House – (compilation)
