There are a few bands called Cave Dweller. As you may expect from the name, they are mainly dark sludgy heavy gloomy types. This however is a solo project by the quite brilliant and not heavy at all. Adam R Bryant of the Pando project of which I waxed lyrical in 2018 and 2019 for their last two releases. Go and check out Hiraeth and Negligible Senescence to see what I got so excited (and bamboozled) about.

Here, this particular Cave Dweller appears not to be some thuggish club wielding demon looking to crack skulls but rather a person who wants to return to nature, for whom the drip of water from a stalactite is percussion and rush of a mountain stream is a melody.

Again, like the Pando collections, this is not just an audio experience. There is no point streaming this or buying FLAC or MP3 bleeps and boops of these tracks. Walter Goodman is a collage made up of music, photography and prose that forces the audience to step outside of their reality, slow down, switch off the devices and really feel something.

Each track has its own notes to accompany it which explain how it was recorded whether that be in the woods with a mobile phone or using an ancient tape machine. There is a story and method behind each piece. The use of nature recordings permeates the music and there is a real sense of “found footage” created by the use of recorders left in the woods and mountains overnight. The final sound of the album is the accidental recording of a black bear’s roar. This is terrifying and majestic at the same time.

This collection of ten pieces had a profound effect on me. I found myself, emotionally at a precipice on the verge of tears and a broad toothy grin at the same time.  There is Americana, Spoken word, folk, dark country, elements of noise but earthy natural noise.  As an old Goth I always feel that melancholy should always be described as a tearful smile. No despair just pensive sadness shot through with hope – whether that hope is forlorn or not.   This collection is that feeling. Sometimes the lyrics are innocent and childlike, other times heart wrenching and poignant.

There is no point describing it further. This is a collection that needs to be experienced. Stick the CD on and lose yourself in the exquisite pictures of the delightfully designed digi-pack. Read about the muses for each song and the instruments of execution and let yourself soar and dip with each twist.

(9.5/10 Matt Mason)  

https://cavedweller3.bandcamp.com/album/walter-goodman-or-the-empty-cabin-in-the-woods

https://www.aestheticdeath.com/releases.php?mode=singleitem&albumid=4861