First off, the album art looks fantastic. I know I don’t focus on it a lot, but it usually takes a certain something to get me to pay attention. The art even does a pretty good job of preparing you for the heavy sounds.
Henryspenncer and Among the Bones sprawl out quite nicely in this split. “The Amazon” comes first. With multiple movements in its 15 minutes, there’s a definite flow to the song. The beginning starts out with a twanging guitar, which increases in size and intensity.
Among the Bones appears to take a quieter route. Beginning with a quiet drone and field recordings, it is the more meditative of the two. Due to the quiet, I’m reminded of Stars of the Lid a few times, in their earlier form. It is a lonelier song than “The Amazon” but the bare bones execution works wonders for it. Plus, the extremely slow pace allows the listener to hear every little detail in perfect detail, though I’d strongly urge a good pair of headphones for this one.
Bookmaker records just started out, but I think they started off strong. Hopefully they’ll be able to continue this level of quality. Get the whole thing here.