So I’m sure I’ve said this before, but one of the beauties of instrumental music, especially as a writer, is its relative freedom from context. Without vocals or lyrics to tether you to a specific mood or narrative, you’re set free to drift, to lose yourself in whatever personal revelations the music teases out. Sure, there are reference points the artist leaves behind as guideposts—melody, structure, instrumentation, et al—but the job of wrestling meaning out of all those notes-chords-noise rests primarily on the listener.
Which brings me to “Iron Down a Drain,” the latest offering from local songwriter and Of the Vine multi-instrumentalist Samuel Laubscher, who composes under the moniker Hot Air Henry. Fraught with quiet tension, the song’s echoing piano glides forward in a stately, indeterminate pace, each melodic phrase building on top of the next until they become ensnared in a foreboding well of white static and eerie moans. It’s a majestic effort, beautiful and brooding, and the best way I know to describe it, both as an aural and emotionally-charged experience, is like the welling in your chest when you finally come to terms with some deep personal truth.
Composed originally as the soundtrack to a short dance film, the composition isn’t without visual and emotional reference, and I suppose someday soon I’ll seek it out. But for the moment I prefer to let it linger within my own perception and memories, bathed in reverie and colored by catharsis.
“Iron Down a Drain” is taken from Hot Air Henry’s forthcoming release “...In Their Place Would Be Silence,” out June 6. The record will be available as a limited edition lathe cut 7″ or cassette containing bonus material. Pre-orders are available here.
More Info
Web: hotairhenry.com
Bandcamp: hotairhenry.bandcamp.com
Facebook: @HotAirHenry
Instagram: @HotAirHenry
SoundCloud: @hotairhenry