PAL - Music For Hikers

The maiden release on Kiosk Radio's newly minted label is an absolute gem from the Belgian trio PAL, a group who also seem to share some personnel with the Undo Seat Belt crew and draw mostly from the same well of off-kilter electronics and minimal wave. Music for Hikers is a concept record of sorts, nine tracks designed to reflect wintery experiences walking in Brussels' Parc Royal. I'm assuming most of these walks were taken under the cover of dark, as there's a pronounced crepuscular aspect to much of these songs, which seem to draw equally from European DIY cassette culture history (think the Radio Nome output on VPRO) and the new wave of art-damaged electronics ala Nina Harker, Goldblum et al. More so, there's a shared city-at-night moroseness that recalls London brethren, Jolly Discs, and particularly Thomas Bush's downtempo midnight confessionals. Parks often seem to occupy a duality, oscillating between comforting space and sinister unknown depending on time of day (and position of the sun). Music for Hikers mostly captures that shadowed, darkened side of public space, though allowing for enough cracks for the occasional splinter of light to filter through.