Cave Bat returns with a few ‘Spider Friends’

• Courtesy Cave Bat

Detractors of experimental music may cite a general ambiguity or lack of timeliness and accessibility of the genre as the root of their disdain. Cave Bat, the high-flying improvisational duo of Nathan Brown (Hopi Torvald, Tree Creature, Eyedrum) and Kris Nelson that debuted last summer, offers a comfortable counter to that complaint. Like clockwork, Brown and Nelson issue a new missive of sprawling tones and drones to their Bandcamp page with consistency and variety to boot. Spider Friends, the latest release, finds Brown and Nelson veering their celestial din into beat-focused post-rock peddled by ’90s space rock progenitors like Bowery Electric, AMP, and Seefeel. The 18-minute track opens with an extended rove of kosmische drones, drifting in an elusive ether of static and errant hums. Just before the piece’s midpoint, action dissolves then coalesces into a propulsive throb of droning bliss. It’s a dark drift that feels like you’re both numb and in-tune with all things. As Spider Friends reaches its harrowing denouement, all sound is pushed entirely into the red in a sonic display of blown-out maximalism. Stream the entire EP below and keep an eye out for the next release by this intriguing duo, which will surely drop in a matter of weeks.
spider friends by cave bat