Listen: Chains Made of Chalk – “Hold Me”

Holy Page Dark Compilation

Holy Page Records specializes in electronic and, more recently, psych-flavored pop music.  But the label’s entries into the electronic fields of music aren’t comprised of dancefloor grinders or fluctuating dub-step beats.  Curater and label head Christian Michael Filardo tends toward the experimental when looking to shore up the roster of Holy Page.  He has recently announced a cassette release of 19 tracks from 19 different artists called the Holy Page Dark Compilation and is set to be released around Record Store Day (April 20th).  One of the many standouts is the fractured beats and ominous synth conflagration of “Hold Me” from electronic group/artist Chain Made of Chalk.  And as barely any information is readily available concerning Chains Made of Chalk, I imagine any back story is appropriate until we hear otherwise.  Combining the mechanical ticks of Autechre, though with a decidedly warmer tonal approach, and the subtle deconstruction aesthetic common to Tim Hecker and William Basinksi, “Hold On” morphs from a hard charging cacophonous group of sounds into a eerily waning synth line that slowly fades away until we’re left with just the air between our fingers.  Stream the track below via Holy Page’s Bandcamp page.  The initial run will be limited to 100 copies so I’d be sure to head over there and pre-order a copy while you can.