When I saw the name Vincent Price listed as an influence on the one-man project by Devil’s Hound, I got quite excited. Although with “Depressive Letters”, Devil’s Hound has stepped away from the horror film star. In his place, we have 3 short numbers described as being “dark acoustic”.
The songs are simple, just vocals backed with the acoustic guitar, production itself sparse and intentionally poor in quality. The issue I have however is “Depressive Letters” seems somewhat lazy, if this was a demo a mate recorded a few years back in their kitchen, then I’d be more appreciative.
The reality is however, that this has made its way into my ears from overseas in Portugal, complete with PR to indicate it is indeed a finished article. The opening tune in “Smile” is OK at best, however “Drowned” just comes across as an artist giving up halfway through an idea. The release is only 7-minutes long, completed by “Warm me”, which itself sounds like Devil’s Hound forgot which room the microphone was left in.
I’m all for lo-fi and returning to basics, after all you can record a track on my answerphone and I’d still be happy to give it a listen. The minimal approach though needs to add something, give a song character, artistic merit… or at the very least just acknowledge it’s all you have to work with.
Devil’s Hound – “Depressive Letters”
