Watery Starve

Benjamin Finger – ‘The Bet’ LP
Sometimes you find a secret door in your house. It is usually behind the bookcase or under the Persian rug. That is where these types of doors like to live. You have to find the hidden lever or sometimes you have to pull just the right book out of that bookcase… Sometimes when you are traveling in the web of underground secret passages in your house, there are windows. Each window reveals a glimpse of some strange story in a loop—to be repeated again and again. You stare blankly for a minute, and then continue down the hallway of windows, realizing each window—no matter how absurd the image—makes for an epiphany of meaning. Only blurred, amorphous, dusty. Norway’s Frank Benjamin Finger’s music is a bit like when you finally find that secret door in your house. His extremely elegant and classical approach to collage and modern composition takes you on a journey through a secret passageway of windows. Unintelligible voices stroke your face. Like lucid dreaming—or perhaps even what it is like in waking life—it can be whatever you want it to be. Watery Starve Press’s first vinyl release, The Bet, is yet another profound and enigmatic work by Finger. As ever, Finger composes careful meditations, deeply influenced by classical themes, musique concrète, the oceans, the clouds, whispers and wintry forest creatures. These compositions, in particular, seem to be breathing exercises. Although blissful at times, there is an eeriness that never escapes, suggesting the darker landscapes of a beautiful dream. Another must-have gorgeous release by Finger, seemingly for the persons who want to remember how to breathe. Or perhaps for the dead love ones in distant, past lives. Sometimes we vaguely remember them and can make out their ghostly shapes. Music by Frank Benjamin Finger. Cello by Elling Finnanger Snofugl. Vocals on 1, 3, 8 by Inga-Lill Farstad and 6 by Lynn Fister. Black vinyl. Art on record cover by Christer Karlstad (front) and Lynn Fister (back, inner watercolor painted sleeve.) Mastered by James Plotkin. Edition of 333.

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