The Third Eye

Empty House is the solo work of Blackpool, U.K.-based musician Fred Laird, an ambient project formed in March 2021 that fuses electronics and found sounds with Asian instruments. The concept of the music is to create dreamlike or meditative atmospheres for meditation, yoga, martial arts, or just sitting on your sofa staring at the clouds from your living room window. Empty House released a new album called The Golden Hour on February 2nd via Echodelick Records, so take a seat on your sofa and get ready to bliss out.

Fred of Empty House says of the record, “I thought it was time to pick up the old electric six-string again and do some guitar-based tracks.” He’d been listening to loads of world music, Michael Rother’s solo output, and Popol Vuh, whose guitarist Daniel Fischlesher has been his biggest guitar influence. Fred said his other biggest influences include Michael Karoli of CAN, Stacy Sutherland of 13th Floor Elevators, and Manuel Gottsching.

Fred wanted each track on The Golden Hour to have its own little universe, such as the sitar on “Ramen Roll,” the mutant Mali rock of “Invisible JuJu,” the pastoral krautrock of “Jerusalem Road,” and the Anatolian raga of “Tamerlane.” All the songs try to evoke exotic places in his mind, some he’s been to and some that are imaginary worlds. “The album hits a stride on side 2, especially with the Blakean dedications ‘Bones of the Golden Loom’ and ‘Urlo sings the Shadow,’” Fred says. “Finally, ‘Night Closure’ finishes the album with just a sparse piano and silence. Kind of reminds me of those Gurdjieff albums on ECM.”

The Golden Hour is a good companion piece to Empty House’s The Rituals of Romance, which was released on cassette last year through Yoshiwara Records. Fred dedicated the album to the late, great T.S. McPhee, another excellent guitarist whom he had the pleasure of supporting a few times in the old Earthling Society days. “He was a true English visionary, and the Groundhogs were one of the most important bands of the Seventies,” Fred says. “Fly high, Tony.”

The Golden Hour was written, recorded, and produced by Fred Laird in the spring and summer of 2023, and he plays a dizzying array of instruments on the album. The instruments included are guitars, bass, bouzouki, Turkish saz, organ, piano, harpsichord, pennywhistle, synthesizer, coral sitar, electronic tanpura, PO133 Street Fighter, and Hulusi. Nick Raybould contributes to “Invisible JuJu” with the djembe and shaker. In true world music fashion, I don’t know what some of these instruments even are, but I listed them because I think some of you fine Third Eye readers are much smarter than me and may recognize them.

Empty House says the music on The Golden Hour is designed for yoga, meditation, and couch-surfing, but some of the tracks are much more intense than you’d think from that description. You can certainly meditate to The Golden Hour, but you’ll be transported by otherworldly sounds to recesses of your subconscious that you didn’t know were there.

“Ramen Roll” is the opening track, an Asian-tinged psychedelic freak-out that sounds like the ghost of George Harrison emerging from the spirit realm for unfinished business. The title track is a more subdued affair, much more suited to relaxation but no less exotic. “Magnetic World” is heavy on electronic soundscapes and guitar feedback, perhaps one of Fred’s forays into an imaginary futuristic world.

“Invisible JuJu” is another song that relies heavily on synth and electronics, creating loops of sound that feel suited for a sci-fi movie soundtrack. We head to the Holy Land with “Jerusalem Road,” and I couldn’t help but wonder if this is one of the places that Fred has visited. Whether he drew inspiration from the real-life Jerusalem or pictures of it in his mind of it, it’s a delightfully sublime song.

“Tamerlane” is a fascinating track that combines exotic world-music instrumentation and groovy guitar playing with electronic effects. “Bones of the Golden Loom” is the longest song at nearly seven minutes, an enchanting fever dream of instrumentation suited for opium dens or yoga studios (take your pick). 

“Urlo Sings the Shadow” is a rad track title, and like “Bones of The Golden Loom,” it’s a dedication to English poet and visionary William Blake. While the shadow made me think of Carl Jung’s famous “shadow self” theory, the track titles are most likely a reference to Blake’s legendary illustrated poetry book, Songs of Innocence and of Experience. Whatever the reference is, “Urlo Sings the Shadow” is another great instrumental song full of the spice and flavor of faraway places, whether real or imaginary. The record fittingly ends with the brief “Night Closure,” a quiet piano piece that closes the curtains of Fred’s performance.

The Golden Hour by Empty House is a terrific album suited for fans of experimental psychedelic music and yet another great release from Echodelick Records, which rarely disappoints. Fans of Krautrock and Popol Vuh should enjoy this one, and readers of William Blake should, too. Empty House lists Blake as a tag for the record on Bandcamp, and I imagine if the mystic poet were alive today, he would love this album. The Golden Hour is currently available on Bandcamp digitally and on vinyl. Enjoy!

Check out The Golden Hour by Empty House on Bandcamp here.

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