Kappe

Just so we’re clear, Kappe — Erik Skodvin’s (see also: Deaf Center) latest Svarte Greiner LP — isn’t an album you casually listen to. You succumb to it, letting Skodvin’s claustrophobic soundscapes hijack your home stereo and wash over your living room like a milkshake-thick fog. Unsettling? Well, yeah — as theatrical as it is, Skodvin’s “acoustic doom” approach embodies dread and absolute darkness like an exorcism. Or at the very least, an elaborate haunted house populated by post-mortem sax players (“Candle Light Dinner Actress”), chain-rattling prisoners (“Tunnel of Love”) and phantasmagoric howling (“Where Am I”). Come to think of it, you might want to toss this ambient opus on the ol’ iPod next Halloween. It’ll scare the neighbor’s kids away quicker than they can say “Trick or treat!” And anyone who stumbles past your fright night score, well, they earned their candy.