Regional Curse is another project from Adelaide’s Stacey Wilson, who also makes music as Rites Wild and plays with Terrible Truths. Natural Living came out recently on New Weird Australia offshoot Wood & Wire, and its sound is a little surprising given all I thought I “knew” about Wilson, which admittedly was never a lot anyway. For one, the mix here is very clean and deep: there’s none of the crisp snare hiss of Rites Wild because this is very much a bass driven operation. The title track, which you can stream below, reminds me a little of some of Laughing Hands’ Dog Photos material: a dreary two note bass “melody” is harnessed by a swarm of modulating notes and barely audible vocalisations. The underlying drone is like a thick ooze of oil, and the aural adornments its chromatic reflections.  I listened to this going to sleep recently, and had a dream that I robbed my primary school’s canteen in the dead of night.

Glib personal anecdotes aside, there’s an almost liberating darkness here. It’s not oppressive, but rather spacious and thoughtful. The name “regional curse” is fitting because this doesn’t feel particularly urban. It never gets this dark in the city.

We’re running an interview with Wilson soon, so that will be nice.