Stream: Ed Dowie “The Adjustable Arm” EP (exclusive)

12 May 2014 — Henry Schiller

Ed Dowie's music is from a different world, but it is not one that has invented so much as discovered. The former Brothers in Sound member reveals the demonic forces that hold up comfortable North London homes and proves elevator music to be the products of blood soaked velveteen funhouses. His music digs the impenetrable depths of the banal and shallow, of the everyday, and rather than coming up empty handed he shows that even the most ordinary of things can become something lush, magnificent, and terrifying.

There’s a strange nostalgia present on Dowie’s The Adjustable Arm EP, almost as if he’s reminiscing about a version of pre-contemporary Europe that he a) could never have experienced and b) only exists in supernatural horror novels. Still, Dowie’s music is firmly contemporary; “Bosnia & Herzegovina” is in direct dialogue with the likes of Julianna Barwick, and “Meadow Song” sounds almost like a London post-dub take on the “Jenova” theme from Final Fantasy VII. Angelo Badalamenti and Arthur Russell are obvious influences, though Dowie skews towards a delightful snap of circus music combined with a dollop of Cthulu mythos that is uniquely his.

The Adjustable Arm is out tomorrow, May 13. Order it over here.