The crushing intensity of a loud drone can feel stifling under certain circumstances, liberating under others, and completely cleansing under others. Variables may include (but are not limited to) instrumentation, timing, volume levels, and, you. Richmond, Virginia-based sound experimentation artist Eric Benson covers all fronts with his project Lugweight. His most recent LP, Yesterday, is a series of emboldened drones that confront you, pummel you and drown you, and then completely revitalize you. In opener, “I Fell Down The Stairs Yesterday,” atmospheric ambience eases you into the viscous mud bath you’re about to take. The crackle of gnarled fuzz-box guitar quickly follows, in stuttering crunches, as though breaking through something wholly physical. It’s claustrophobic and cathartic all at once, the tone of the 12-string struggling to emerge from the smothering tangles of effect, but, so are you. You’re unknotting it, too, and for what feels like an eternity. And then suddenly, the weight of the tone does let up, and you feel lightened in its absence. You’re walking on air. You’ve been touched by higher beings, breathing better and more relaxed than before you pressed play, maybe more so than you’ve ever felt before. This goes on for each individual track for the entirety of the record, varied oscillations and loops and repetitions freshening and refreshening the simultaneously oppressive and soothing tones. Garbled, yet mantric vocals on the last two tracks, “Love Song For The Insane” and “Show Me Where The Shovel Is,” introduce a calming, yet eerie melodic structure and stability to the otherwise indiscernible chaos cloud. Your catharsis lies in reverberating static.
