We’ve updated our Terms of Use to reflect our new entity name and address. You can review the changes here.
We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.

Black Mass

by Pefkin

/
1.
2.
Noisy Nest 02:54
3.
4.
5.
Twa Corbies 03:59
6.
Buckenham 06:47
7.
Hoodie Craw 02:54

about

Review from Bliss / Aquamarine:

"Pefkin is the solo project of Gayle Brogan, also of Electroscope. I first got in touch with Gayle via her fanzine Boa back in the 90s; she also later set up the mail-order distro Boa Melody Bar. The zine and distro had a good quantity of indiepop content, whilst also covering things like homemade experimental psychedelic electronic music, and Gayle was among the first wave of people in the 1990s to champion psych-folk, well before it took off as a popular underground genre. I remember finding out about bands like The Iditarod via the Boa Melody Bar back in the day. These days Boa is no longer in operation, but Gayle is still very much active in music, both with Electroscope and with Pefkin. Reverb Worship have released this latest Pefkin album, the seven tracks within united by a common theme of corvids. I don't have a track list with this promo version so will refer to the tracks by number.
Track 1 brings together gentle pulsating drones, soft hushed vocals, melodica, and a field recording of cawing crows over distant traffic noise. Track 2 is folky yet spacey and mind-expanding, based around what sounds like a combination of harmonium, hurdy gurdy and clarinet, with the sound of chattering corvids coming in at the end. Track 3 features a lute-like guitar melody with medieval and Middle Eastern tinges, rattling bells, eerily pretty melodica, atmospheric use of sitar, and humming drones creating a sense of foreboding. Track 4 is the album's epic centrepiece, around 15 minutes long, using noise guitars to create doom-laden, psychedelic and atmospheric sounds as backdrop for a soaring, ethereal psych-folk song. I recognise track 5 as the traditional song Twa Corbies; this version sets eerie echoey vocals to stark drones and birdsong, then morphs into an experimental instrumental based around woodwind and zither. Track 6 brings together recited lyrics, atmospheric wordless vocals, minimal drone, slicing metallic noise, and cawing crow sounds. Track 7 is a very lovely, strongly melodic, folky song set to a combination of minimal electronics, sparse guitar and found sounds. If I'm not mistaken, I think this is a Kitchen Cynics cover.
Black Mass is a superb, inventive album of dark experimental psych-folk. This edition is limited to just 50 copies, which are selling fast and not without reason. Only a few copies remain at the time of writing. Hopefully Reverb Worship will reissue the album once the first run has sold out, as they often do with their most popular releases, as this album deserves to be heard by far more than just 50 people! "

credits

released October 31, 2015

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

Pefkin Sheffield, UK

Pefkin is the alter ego of Gayle Brogan, creator of slowly-unfolding, ritualistic hymnals that draw heavily on the landscape and natural world.
She is also a member of Burd Ellen, Greenshank and Meadowsilver.

shows

contact / help

Contact Pefkin

Streaming and
Download help

Redeem code

Report this album or account

If you like Pefkin, you may also like: