Indieville
This nautically-themed EP is the brainchild of Eric Heath (aka EL Heath Ð the L stands for "Loveland"), a solo drone artist operating out of Shrewsbury, UK. It is a brief but satisfying artifact of which only seventy copies exist, and each comes packaged with a page from a book on ship navigation. The music itself is gentle, listenable drone that incorporates organic instruments as well as electronics. The results range from movingly eerie (the chilling hum and piano strokes of "Felixstowe Sirens (Sing to You)," the stormlike urgency of "Yar She Bellows") to more warm and welcoming (the beautiful folk-drone of "Bees'" and the hypnotic sheen of "Waves 'Goodbye'"). The songs, though abstract, do evoke feelings of being out in the middle of the ocean Ð a sort of pure, foggy ambience that at once refreshes and mystifies. This is a strong EP, although it should be longer!
80%

Vital Weekly
Of much more interest, I think, is the also quite short release by Eric Heath. He plays also drone like music, but much more calm and relaxing, be it that he is inspired by singer-songwriter material by say the likes of Richard Youngs. Guitar plays an all important role, the singing is reduced to humming and in the five pieces he puts on a beautiful atmospheric sound. Sustaining sounds, fed through a bunch of delay pedals create rich tapestries of sounds. This could have been a bit longer to please my appetite.

sonomu
El Heath plays sea shanties on deck of the ship of the damned, constantly struggling to be heard above the chatter and mumblings of its passangers. This five-track EP starts off sounding more like an old 78. El Heath performs on an out-of-tune piano further distorted by lo-fi recording acoustics and accompanied by the whirl of rickety machinery straining to maintain power. On his second attempt, the artist is back in the engine room, now trying to tell his tale through the asthmatic breathing of a harmonium. Still, he is like a storyteller trying to get heard over the chatter of numbskulls. For his third attempt, a catchy melody is heard clear as a bell over a dark bass undercurrent while a foppish, over-articulating Englishman repeats something about a "sunny spot". By the final track, the voice of the latter is more clearly discernable - he must come from some old gardening instruction record. Otherwise, both in name and spirit, this track says goodbye, a dirge-like coda for the vessel disappearing over the horizon. Despite the reiteration of the open (if dead) sea, El Heath seems more interested in the element of air - everything breathes heavily, machines powered pneumatically - the old, the out-of-order, and the acoustics of closed space. Too rarely do I get to say: A truly unique sound and vision.

Wonderful Wooden Reasons
One of the gems of this months issue of WWR is this short ep of quiet noise and melody from El Heath - about whom I know absolutely nothing. The recording is coarse and the instruments are played often (but not always) with seemingly little effort or attention yet it all works wonderfully well. Almost everything about this recording reminded me of the work of UK drone maestro (and WWR friend and fave) Darren Tate in particular the work he has been producing of late such as Strange Artifact. It has that casual, sitting room psychedelia feel that makes his work - and this - so very appealing. It really took me by surprise how much I like this one - bravo to El Heath and bravo to Dead Sea Liner. I look forward to the album.