NICK MOTT

English multi-instrumentalist and songwriter Nick Mott's second album under his own name. Mott, previously known mostly for his work as a founding member of the eclectic group Volcano the Bear, has, since his departure, been forging a path very much his own. A couple of other projects aside, namely Skeleton Birds and the Number of God and Spectral Armies, Mott's work under his own name commenced in 2011 with a one-sided 7" art package also released on Lumberton Trading Company (LUMB 006B-EP). Similar to his drawings and photocopied collages, Mott's music beams in from some kind of distorted or fractured reality, reminiscent of the twilit places explored by the likes of H. P. Lovecraft. The ten pieces on Here Begins the Great Destroyer bear witness to a world of unfolding electronic textures, uneasy tones, rhythmic bursts, and a general sense of things not being quite as they seem. However, this is no dark ambient muck. Instead, it rather uncomfortably resides in a space out of which Renaldo & The Loaf, Tuxedomoon, Nurse with Wound, and Andrew Liles have all crawled. Of course, there is a crooked humor evident, too, as no artist can truly traverse such places without it. Here Begins the Great Destroyer is the first step towards what will, in due course, become a deluxe vinyl box set also containing an art booklet by Nick Mott. In the meantime, this album exists in its own right as a Digipak CD, which is limited to 300 copies and will not be reprinted. Mastered by Siôn Orgon (former collaborator of Thighpaulsandra and Peter Christopherson). (label info)