Planning For Burial - "Below The House" (Album Review)

 

Planning For Burial - Below The House

(2017)


My copy: 2017 on white vinyl by Flenser Records.


Planning For Burial is the one-man dark shoegaze project of Thomas Wasluck. I initially discovered Planning For Burial via the sentimental and depressive Leaving that was released in 2010 via Enemies List Home Recordings. Below The House takes the intense melancholy of Leaving and refines it down into a much more focused wave of intensity with much higher production quality. 

“Whiskey And Wine” heaves and crackles with crashing waves of distorted bass and guitar. There are obvious black metal influences, especially in the harsh vocal performance on this track, but the music also shares influences in sludge and shoegazing. There is a slight thematic element to the record in its usage of sleigh bells and the ever childish glockenspiel such that these sounds are meant to evoke imagery of loneliness during the cold holiday season in Pennsylvania where Wasluck lives. I would have enjoyed the end of the first track more had the glockenspiel been replaced by piano, but alas my prayers are immediately answered in “Threadbare,” a far more melodic piece of slowcore that features twinkly piano and clean guitar. 

The synth work throughout the album creates a nice bed of atmosphere for the songs, but the whispered insecure vocals are oftentimes mixed too low (most likely intentionally) despite the fact that Wasluck has a pleasant voice and it would be nice to hear more of it. The low vocal mixing makes sense when the melodies are more depressive like on “Threadbare” or “Warmth Of You” but the black-metal march of “Somewhere In The Evening” would be more effective if the chanted lyrics were turned up a bit. “Somewhere In The Evening” features searing tremolo that eventually gives way to the most cathartic release of the whole album with delayed and reversed synth swells and somber piano chords. 

“Warmth Of You” channels the darker side of British shoegazing, specifically Birmingham’s Iroha with very similar synth tones. The first half of the album closes with an instrumental duo of chopped samples, icy synth and droning bass. “(something)” is a reference to a series of interlude tracks of the same name by Phil Elverum of The Microphones and Mount Eerie fame. 

The second half of the record features the massive two song suite of “Dull Knife Pt. 1” and “Dull Knife Pt. 2.” Below The House begins to lose its charm a bit through the second half as the instrumentals have become somewhat derivative of the early tracks but “Dull Knife Pt. 2” strips things down to sheer meditation over acoustic guitar and contemplative vocals. As the two-track suite approaches its end, a myriad of other voices join Wasluck to build a choral chant. Some fun cameos appear in the vocal barrage such as Dan Barrett and Tim Macuga of Have A Nice Life. “Below The House” rounds out the album with a dissonant bassline, windy synths and layered vocal pleading. 

Below The House is an incredibly valiant effort with a level of quality that only shows how much Thom Wasluck has improved in the years since releasing Leaving. Had some of the fat been trimmed and some elements boosted, Below The House would probably be a truly amazing album but as it is it sits comfortably as a great release from a passionate musician. 

This album has some expensive color pressings but the two original pressings, including mine are available and reasonably priced.


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