IVORY TOWER | VINYL RECORD (LP)

Sweet Williams, Sweet Williams on the album Where Does The Time Come From is one Thomas House, a South coast native guitarist and songwriter whose bands have a habit of dissolving. This latest LP contains ten post-punk infused songs of an almost brutalist nature, House's music in it's purest form, performed almost entirely by himself. The first single is "Ride A Gold Snail", a rumbling post-rock juggernaut that sets a backwards drum beat to a filthy, holding pattern bassline, with guitar amps on the verge of burning out and elliptical, elusive lyrics. "It's probably my most romantic song," says House. In 2016, the Sweet Williams line-up responsible for the open, organic sound of that year's album Please Let Me Sleep On Your Tonight (WAAT 062LP) dissolved in a potent formula of work, babies, babies and work. Armed with a clutch of new songs and no time to break in a new band, House repaired to Agricultural Audio in the heart of rural Sussex with trusted producer Ben Hampson and set to work. The resulting recordings reflected House's fascination with, and horror for, busted mechanics; in place of the live band's fluid, entropic interplay, structured patterns lurch and correct, a crowbar jammed in every gear. These compositions could be seen as the culmination of twenty-plus years playing in countless bands, from the incandescent fury of House's old vehicle Charlottefield, to the disciplined guitar in post-punk stalwarts Joeyfat, to a newfound confidence in vocal texture and melody in Haress. Lyrical themes cover love, dread, betrayal, bliss, injustice, death, sex, the end of the world. After the bracing opening two tracks, the celebratory "Stop It I'm Killing You" and it's stinging hangover "Stunt Freeze", the album proceeds to it's dusky heart. By the time of "Two Golden Sisters", House's hands barely brush the strings of his guitar as he croons to the memory of a long-lost love. "Facing East", a song whose definitive reading eluded House for more than a decade, sets a misheard conversation to a cyclical chime and an unexpected, explosive blossom.