Karson – offline… (loops)

One of the magical aspects of browsing the #Nashville tag on Bandcamp is that you frequently stumble on some magical release with zero context. The band name is unknown, the album has few insightful notes and the music simply speaks for itself. Such is the case with Karson and the offline… (loops) EP; a mysterious release simply described as “a small collection of some of my favorites beats.”

It’s just five songs with a total duration just barely breaching 10 minutes but manages to absolutely captivate in that time. There’s a mild tape hiss to the production mixed with a warm warble that gives it a vibe that this was dubbed from a cassette just found lying on the ground. On “Ded, a haunting piano line evokes a serious Twin Peaks atmosphere that Angelo Badalamenti himself would appreciate. Closing track “Distance [33]” is the longest of the bunch and could be a whole tape in and of itself as it transitions through multiple “segments” embracing samples, jazz and mournful strings.

Digging into more information about Karson is available by investigating various social network accounts but I prefer the ambiguity. Sure, I’ll follow along on Bandcamp to be notified of more information but the magic of this release is that it transcends time and place. It’s like being in a hip-hop twinged version of The Red Room and I’m all for it.