Stream: Dreampeter “Snakes Eating Snakes | side A” (exclusive)

12 Jan 2015 — Johanne Swanson

Snakes Eating Snakes is the first full-length from Dreampeter, a duo composed of Peter Wiley (Pascäal) and Matt Gilles (llloyd), that was quietly released January 1 of this new year. Despite that discretion, it is flawless in execution by virtue of debut from Ways Inner Pass, a cassette label founded cross-continentally by Wiley and Gilles of Austin, TX, and Berlin's own Cory Levinson (Kohwi). Our blog-conscious readers may recognize these three from the now defunct Zen Tapes, a music blog they were involved in while attending the University of Michigan, or their current participation in the Portals community. Ways Inner Pass' strength is in concept, combining the humble physicality of a cassette release with that which only translates online; Snakes Eating Snakes is paired with a mini-site that ebbs and flows differently with each visit while the record plays on loop (the horizontal symbols on the right side of the page indicate which track you've entered upon.)

Musically, Wiley and Gilles have created a piece that is sparse and lush where it demands. There is a clear sense of melody in their whirrs, sputters and audio samples of friends talking, water flowing, chimes in the wind. This ambience is greatly appreciated at a time when drone all too frequently correlates with aggressive noise. According to Dreampeter, the release is "a reflective statement on the peculiar stasis of hometowns, a remark on the perpetual alienation and dilapidation of old residences...a conversation between the specters of the past and the reality of today." Thusly, Snakes Eating Snakes. 

Snakes Eating Snakes is out now on Ways Inner Pass. Order a copy of the hand silkscreened cassette here, Blue Lace Agate healing stone included, and be sure to spend some time with the digital mini-site.