Customer review on Amazon UK:
The Strangeness of Familiarity
Customer rating 5.0/5.0
29 Jan 2014 By Tee Double You Bee Esq
Imagine Betjeman schooled in Burroughs, Ballard and Crowley - you're on your way to 'Anitmacassar' and what a wonderful trip it is too. Throughout this spoken-word journey (accompanied by field recordings/found sounds/electronic whizzery) lies an all-pervasive otherness; the comfortable fear of your grandparents' house as a child (all ticking clocks and musty smells), the sad tale of an extinct beehive and a mother with three thumbs.
Distinct English ephemera, from seaside atmospherics to Sooty & Sweep, colours these evocative missives from an inventive poet. 'Green Man's cut-and-paste, manipulated names of trees rubs shoulders with a cold, robotic account of autopsy. 'Gone' repeats the chuckled existential resignation of a kindly old timer next to the 'Shining' ambience of the genuinely creepy 'Horrible News'. I particular enjoy 'Lace' which is reminiscent (in sound at least) of Kerouac accompanied by Steve Allen. The titular track (Doily Doily, anyone?) is another superb meander through very English tropes and is thoroughly entrancing.
Where this triumphs over many other, please excuse me, 'hauntological' releases is in that it manages to side-step the slightly camp silliness. 'Antimacassar' is genuinely unsettling with a strong whiff of the occult snaking around suburbia. What's more is that it bears repeated listens with the supple word-play and excellent musical accompaniment from such luminaries as Position Normal, Moon Wiring Club and The Time Attendant.
Highly recommended for a leap into the uncanny.
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