Since setting short or long term goals for yourself tends to keep you focused and away from the dangers of drugs, so as such, it is my short term goal to write a few entries this week digging through my archives. My archives are kept in a fortress outside the city proper and mote-protected. However, I will share certain gems from these archives on my blog, because sharing is caring. Here’s one from classic UK dream pop outfit Chapterhouse.
So, Chapterhouse’s 1991 release Whirlpool never made a huge, umm, splash in the shoegazing scene, but it was very good. Had they developed these sounds more, expanding on their sonic landscape instead of following-up with a corny, overtly poppy, overly slick, incredibly dated sounding album (1993’s Blood Music), Chapterhouse might have been as recognizable of a name as Ride.
Though Chapterhouse tended to be more poppy than many of their contemporaries, they made quite a statement when they weren’t going for verse-chorus-verse structures and soft guitar sounds.
This… this is a total brain melter. And it’s a rare treat.
“Satin Safe” is shoegazing’s most sinister song. These guitars are in pain. The song’s crescendo in the third act is scary. I love this because this is one of the few times you hear a wall of sound that is uncomfortably suffocating. You would’ve never seen this coming from Chapterhouse. Unfortunately, this song never made it on Whirlpool during its initial release. I was able to get my hands on the out-of-print Sunburst EP that this trenchant anthem appeared on a few years back.
Like Sarah Palin, this song frightens me.
MP3 :::
Chapterhouse – Satin Safe
