The Ash Eaters - Cold Hearts (demo)

Umesh Amtey has been ploughing the same furrow since 2005: a spidery lope swathed in lo-fi distortion that sounds outputted straight from a computer sound card. It’s one of the most best, appropriate soundtracks of the digital recluse generation. Lone males spend hours waging anonymous online wars. What better accompaniment than a digital sound with various pseudonyms over time?

First it was Starshine, which put out two demos. Then it was Brown Jenkins, which put out two albums with a Lovecraftian bent. Now it’s The Ash Eaters, which continues the sound, but with a “lyrical” emphasis on the emotional and celestial. “Lyrical” is in quotes because Amtey originally recorded vocals for this demo, but decided not to include them. But the demo’s free download includes the lyrics anyway. Amtey’s cavern-sounding vocals were atmospheric before, but their absence here is also atmospheric. Any number of voices could embody these lyrics. So this sounds like a demo waiting for vocals to be added, but it also lets one use one’s imagination.

It’s not an emotional coloring book, however. The palette is bleak. Amtey’s trademarks are in full effect: harsh tones, open string jangles, ambiguous major/minor tonalities, the tendency to change tempos as one would change speeds of walking. Daydream Nation-era Sonic Youth comes to mind very strongly. But these aren’t daydreams. They’re fever dreams of an insomnia verdant with ones and zeros.

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