Consisting of brothers Adam and Steve Sherry, Melbourne’s A Dead Forest Index’s Antique is a tense and hauntingly minimal debut release.
‘Distance’ is a moody, monochrome opener, with austere rhythmic guitar playing, tribal drumming and ethereal, yet powerful harmonising vocals. Elsewhere, the groovier ‘Anchoring The Hands’ is the EP highlight, with guitars that threaten to unfurl before being removed for its dramatically slowed, almost a capella second half.
The remaining songs showcase the bands wider palette: the gothic ‘Black Mud’, with its anxious acoustic guitar strums and organs that sound like an impending storm; and the closer ‘Turning’ with its harsh harmonium chords that fall into a dark mess for its final minute.
This is at once delicate and muscular, with tortured, eerily restrained vocals at the focal point and instrumentation that threatens – and sometimes does – derail. While the pair seems somewhat bound to their gothic image, this cathartic and interestingly morose EP shows great promise for the future.
Wyatt Lawton-Masi
