Article By: Pat ‘Riot’ Whitaker ‡ Edited By: Leanne Ridgeway
In case you are not aware, the Texas entity that is fitted with the moniker SLOW DRAW is actually the lone being Mark Kitchens from the band Stone Machine Electric.
Don’t jump to any conclusions though, the output of SLOW DRAW is something quite unlike Stone Machine Electric’s. It’s actually closer akin to Kitchens’ other endeavor, the ambient / experimental duo of Momentary Gamelan Ensemble. Yes, the tags ambient and experimental are both valid here, along with ones like atmospheric, psychedelic, and outer sound.
Naming this output SLOW DRAW was derived from a spark of divinity, too, as this “music” is the slow, drawn-out delving into somewhat drone mindfuck audio. The creation of these large swaths of aural sonic scapes yields a temporal displacement for the listener, one that is slow to draw you in, as well.
If your imagination is able to cut itself loose from its narrowed, limiting tethers, able to take flight upon wings of otherworldly-ness, then SLOW DRAW provides the soundtrack for your journey. The following is where it and my imagination took me while listening to ‘Light Is The Path‘.
Though these audible emanations possess titles, they seem more a formality really, each an individual step upon a collective path. The initial beginnings of this sojourn are distinguished as “Test Run“, “The Door” and “Desert“, yet all seem as similar movements toward the same destination.
Minimalist, ethereal, and partly haunting at points along the way, we soon arrive at “The Deviant“. It works like an intended arrival, giving the feeling that its predecessors were the trek to deliver us here. Once here, we are now free to float amid the barrier-less atmosphere of it and “A Stable“, which we do.
Then, a repetitive blip breaks forth, it’s “Space Signal“, a transmission alerting us that further travels loom. Soon we are disengaging the locks and setting sail upon the expansive cosmic sea that lay before, beneath, and all about us. Alone, isolated, our minds free to wander, to suppose and speculate about what might come next.
Something soon comes into earshot, a stationary object, motionless and emanating malevolent vibrations. Dark overtones rise from the nether emptiness beneath us, with foreboding feelings of uncertainty that quickly reach a palpable dread. There is no light to be found on this, the path taken, no, there is only… “The Door Closed“.
And with it, ultimately, the end to SLOW DRAW ‘Light Is The Path‘.
Jack your own head up with the mind-altering excesses of this recording via our stream here or over at the Bandcamp location HERE.
