Two People In A Room: Wrapped in Plastic
a crash at every speed

Wrapped In Plastic is the first release on the “a crash at every speed” imprint established by Two People In A Room members Michelle & René (René Margraff aka Pillowdiver). The thirty-eight minute cassette release is tailor-made for experimental guitar enthusiasts, with the instrument's sound manipulated extensively through the use of effects pedals and signal processing in four long-form tracks. That the material on the release is so accomplished won't come as any surprise to those familiar with Margraff's impressive, mid-2009 Pillowdiver release, Sleeping Pills.

In the opening track, “Come On, Baby, Contact,” an hypnotic guitar theme rises gradually from a mist of droning guitars and then repeats until it falls away, ceding the stage to a swelling cloud that threatens to turn violent before deflating into a more measured flow where ripples of raw distortion bleed off of a stately repeating figure. It's a remarkable piece, and one that speaks highly of the duo's patient handling of the material and the control with which they execute it. The tremolo twang of a gentle guitar theme likewise emerges from an industrial swamp during the second piece, “A Number of Techniques, Such as the Poison Pill,” until it vanishes within an opaque mass of metallic sheets. A simple two-note motif anchors a slow unfurl of distortion-drenched washes and tones during “Screamy Creamy” that again feels as if it's on the verge of combusting when it intensifies into a controlled roar. Cloaked in gloom, “Holiday Redux” ends the album hauntingly with spectral rattles echoing across a lulling flow of layered guitar textures.

Formed in September 2009, the Berlin-based Two People In A Room will surely find its profile raised when a projected full-length album appears on Home Normal. Until then, Wrapped In Plastic provides a thoroughly satisfying listening experience indeed.

January 2011