Graveyard Tapes - White Rooms [CD]

2014 release, the follow-up to the acclaimed debut from Edinburgh-based duo Euan McMeeken (glacis, the Kays Lavelle) and Matthew Collings (Splintered Instruments, Sketches for Albinos). Their first album confronted heartbreak, solitude and death, WHITE ROOMS looks to progress, even repair, restore. Collings assumed the role of primary songwriter, and here the darkly lit, fully curtained spaces of their inaugural record serve not as a wake, but a wake-up call. Both Collings and McMeeken have long embraced collaboration in their solo careers, having worked with the likes of Ben Frost, Old Earth, and Dag Rosenqvist (Jasper TX). This time around they've given their collaborative natures ample room to breathe. Many tracks were improvised with Ben Chatwin, who records as Talvihorros, while the song 'Flicker' finds omni-instrumentalist/ singer/songwriter William Ryan Fritch (Vieo Abiungo, Death Blues: Ensemble) lending his cello.