Album Review: ‘Enter the Slasher House’

“Enter the Slasher House” is not an album; it’s a world.

The album is fittingly named, and listening to it is like entering a completely different realm: one that’s darker and a little underground. Its use of digitally enhanced effects, filters and synths brings to mind the musical stylings of “The Rocky Horror Picture Show.”

With big reverberations and enveloping synths, the album gives off a cinematic quality conducive to flashbacks of sci-fi and horror films, which is enhanced by the visual album stream that was released on the Internet last week to accompany the album.

Avey Tare, an experimental musician most notably known for his work in the band Animal Collective, formed the group Avey Tare’s Slasher Flicks with Dirty Projectors’ Angel Deradoorian and Ponytail’s Jeremy Hyman. In the new band, there are still traces of Animal Collective in the winding song form and electronics.

Unlike Tare’s previous work, which promoted a physical response to the music, the album manages to hold your attention but it almost requires you to sit still and simply listen. Notable gems can be found as it progresses. Most like Animal Collective’s work, “Little Fang” is one of the few slower, relatively stripped down songs.

“The melody sings what the words can’t say/ But they might laugh and they might be scared,” Tare sings quietly, illustrating a certain self-awareness. The melody does seem to express something separate from the lyrics, creating enjoyable albeit eerie feelings.

“Catchy (Was Contagious)” has a weird, manipulated reggae sound, like someone pushed Ziggy Marley into a washing machine. True to its name, the song is catchy. Placed in the middle of the album, it is the first time the listener begins to feel involved in the songs.

The tracks have a cyclic, squashed structure in which melodies are layered and overlapped so much that the repetition of every musical signature makes them feel weirdly familiar toward end. The complexity of the album cultivates harsh, isolating tracks. This is clear with the track “Duplex Trip,” its jaunty electronic piano rhythm never ceasing from beginning to end.

Although made up of simple components, songs like “Duplex Trip” are arranged in a way that tends to be a little overwrought with digital effects and instrumental manipulations thrown together in a paralyzing way with seemingly endless riffs.

However, the digital accouterments are what keep the album from feeling comfortable. “The Outlaw” has elements of surprise with ominous digital organ-sounding chords interspersed with unexpected pauses.

The lyrics and the songs are dark and a little frightening, a mix between the darkness of indie pop duo MS MR and psychedelic rock band Tame Impala. But the album remains completely its own; songs like “That It Won’t Grow” are angst-filled and loud but juxtaposed with big bubbly beats.

“Your Card,” the last track on the album, is fresh and fun, alleviating some of the darkness. It cements the album as a new wave of music – the electronics create their own melody, which is incredibly exciting. The far-away, phone-line nature of the vocals is interesting and adds a new dimension to the track. The scratchiness is creepy, but the song maintains a fun and summery tone.

Kind of like a roller coaster, the album has moments that are overwhelming and a little too theatrical, which is when the album becomes a tad uncomfortable to listen to. The three or four songs that are lighter on electronics, however, are its saving grace, providing a great and much-needed balance.

Like Tare sings in “A Sender,” “We forget ourselves … (and) can’t escape.” If “Enter the Slasher House” had been the wonderland Alice encountered, then it is easy to understand why she couldn’t wait to go down the rabbit hole.

– Leyla Kumble