Music News - Strange Behaviour present 'The Lake', the debut album from Box of Hammers
21 August 2023 - 0 Comments
Strange Behaviour present The Lake, the debut album from Te Whanganui-a-Tara based musician Box of Hammers.
First featured on our Ambient Maladies compilation, the Box of Hammers project has evolved into a swirling maelstrom of droning guitar, mutated synths, ancient instruments and randomly discovered sounds.
The work of John Kingston, an experienced musician and current band member of shoegazers Hail, Meteor! and ambient dreamscapers Filtersphere, this solo project envisions a stormy night spent in a cabin by a lake. An imaginary soundtrack to a film that never existed. A haunting yet poetic work that reflects on the environment, equally beautiful and uplifting, yet also dark and traumatic.
“All my musical ideas come from the visualization of a place/time - like a scene from a movie. In a sense my compositions are the soundtrack to my own internal movie.
After 20 years as band leader of psychedelic funk group The Hairy Lollies, I found myself spending a lot of time sitting alone trying to capture a more intimate sonic landscape. I had an opportunity to perform ambient music in an art gallery and I really loved the challenge and the possibilities of creating a more cinematic and dreamlike musical landscape. These sessions morphed into the Box of Hammers project,” JK explains.
One thing that’s clear when entering the realm of Box of Hammers, JK knows his studio inside and out. Besides the impeccably constructed guitar tones sits a plethora of pedals, filters, and additional processes lend the music a healthy dose of mysticism among the minimalism, layered with an otherworldly quality.
“The album began as an attempt to capture moments of a stormy night spent at a cabin by a lake - and took the shape of an imaginary horror movie soundtrack.
The lake itself is calm and beautiful but also an eerie place of unknown elements, the wind in the trees, the fog rolling across the surface.”
All of these atmospheres are present in The Lake, a richly detailed work of quiet power and immense beauty.
Composed, performed, recorded and mixed by John Kingston, with help from Stephen Gallagher. Photography by Delia Shanley.
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