BC25 – “Unearthed, Pt. 2”

BC25’s “Unearthed, Pt. 2” is an album that asks for your patience, and it’s worth giving. Producer Barbonus discovered 18 unfinished cassette recordings that his late friend left behind and spent years rebuilding them into complete songs. Vocalist Vela Sorell came in to add her voice to these old fragments, and together they’ve created an album that connects two different time periods without erasing either one.

You can hear influences from Daughter, Cigarettes After Sex, and early James Blake here, but he’s after the same kind of quiet intensity those artists have. “Six Strings Left” is a good example of how much these songs can communicate without saying much at all, while “The Reckoning” goes deeper with a spoken-word part that Barbonus nearly cut from the album. Vela convinced him to try recording it one more time, and that final attempt became the version that held the whole song together.

The recording approach was all about keeping the original tapes intact rather than cleaning them up too much. Tape hiss and empty spaces are still there because they belong to the story. This album won’t work for everyone, but if you’re someone who enjoys minimal, atmospheric music, you’ll probably find a lot here.

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