RV Paintings

Trinity Rivers

Root Strata




As Starving Weirdos continue to churn out release after release on various labels in various formats, RV Paintings comes as a breather between whatever the Weirdos are planning next. Here, Weirdo Brian Pyle offers his hand to something else; an intimate styled recording with his brother and a third party that yields some gracefully dynamic sounds. Not that SW doesn’t typically deal in dynamic sounds, but for the noise-wielding, sometimes-dissonant, outer-limits styled compositions that they manage to conjure up, Trinity Rivers manages to tap into something a bit more reserved than the heavy-on-the-mindfuck that we’re used to hearing from these guys and their associated parties. What RV Paintings brings to the table is a recording of majestic qualities contrasted from the Weirdos’ macabre, that further accentuates the “without borders” approach to music making that we’ve come to appreciate from this north Californian collective of musicians. Starting off with “South Fork Trinity,” the recording takes a slow, almost ambient approach, drifting effortlessly for close to 12 minutes with a cacophonous blend of guitar sustains, percussive elements and slow acid-folk guitar plucks for a track that comes off in film score-quality glory. It’s an otherworldly meditative track in comparison to some of the recent material we’ve heard from Pyle and company, and manages to hold to its nature without effort before fading to silence. The other two tracks here, take a subtle but different approach, using some decisively different elements to create some equally masterful works. “Mad River” introduces a tape loop to the structure of a quickly growing sound that resonates in cyclic fashion with increasing speed only to slow to an effect-laden piece that transforms into spaced-out ambience with great ease. Swells and oscillations permeate the background with such delicate manner that sounds almost begin to shuffle from the mix and take over one another, shrouded in increasing static tones. It’s a deep, constant listen that doesn’t change too much in its demeanor that states RV Paintings’ ability to work within a minimal but deep context. Before the track ends though, the focus drifts further from its initial premise, offering a sparse, dark soundscape that flows into an unconscious place, finishing off with a field recording sample of waves crashing for a truly organic feel. The last track, “North Fork Trinity” holds stable in defining the sounds of this project as well, but begins on more of an industrial feel. Not in the pulsating, KMFDM-like manner, but there’s something surprisingly mechanized about how the final track takes off that will have listeners wondering what these guys are channeling; and, with what are they making such sounds? Regardless, “North Fork Trinity” ties the record together in all of its differing manners to be it's most complex and active work, as cymbal crashes drift into play simultaneously with some guitar functioning that makes way for a chaotic build to a docile climax of the track at it’s midpoint. The record itself drifts out in it’s last eight minutes or so with a forged sound collage of sorts, as mild percussion taps over a mess of manipulated field recordings and audio samples, before building into an intense drone to finish. On the whole, Trinity Rivers is a deep listen into uncharted territory that is probably best navigated by a Weirdo to say the least. However, the delicate nature that this release can be handled in is also a plus as it shows an expansive sound that is far from camp yet strikingly solid for the first recording for this trio. Let’s hope it’s not their last.


Root Strata

Starving Weirdos