why we love this

Transmissions from an obscure laboratory that seeks out volatile transmissions for the sake of it. Inert surfaces are electrified by harsh currents, creating spectacular thunderstorms in a bottle. Oliver is an alchemist, transmuting sonic textures that rarely cross paths.

about the record

Oliver Coates’ skins n slime is a caliginous anatomy concealed by a drone-metal membrane, feeding upon mechanized strand distortions and thriving amidst its harmonic waste.

Embracing both suffering and joy for this heavy new sound, Coates incorporates a self-made method of creating cello “slime” throughout the album’s live performances. This melting of rich layers seeps through a chain of two digital loopers, distortion and chorus, which modulate the cello’s strings into a metallic sheen. Like structural pillars, the loopers’ automation triggers and reverses musical phrases at predetermined moments, refreshing the audio buffer with unexpected gliding steps.

The Caregiver parts 1-5 suite is a purge of invisible sacrifice and spirit encounters as experienced through a deep harmonic dissonance. “Caregiver part 2 (4am)” and “Caregiver part 5 (money)” are smeared with heavy distortion, caught in the aching, breathless growth spurts of crescendo. In his emotional outpouring, Coates mutates string into something overdriven and saturated, like past afflictions glowing hazily out of reach.