I always thought Tarot readings were _____, but my wife is Argentine and her and her mom tend to throw down that shit every so often, so I see how it can become a part of someone’s life. This-here Laughing Eye Weeping Eye (this is a duo, one is Laughing Eye [Rebecca Schoenecker], one is Weeping Eye [Patrick Holbrook]; thoughts?) cassette is inspired by Tarot in a very real way, as Schoenecker actually performs readings in Chicago. So while I suspected the Tarot stuff to be a sneaky-but-hey-why-not PR tactic, it isn’t. Not only that, but the music of Once Was You delightfully reflects the nether-worldly delights of such pursuits with its unblinking reverence to a hallowed strain of echo-chamber folk. Schoenecker sings like an angel while she flips her cards and predicts your ultimate success or doom, while a harmonium-sounding instrument (I’m offering no guarantees) accompanies. God, so much reverence. It’s like December in the oldest church in town, and the heat is on the fritz, and you have nowhere to stay. You head to the pews and lay down. A woman’s voice emerges from the pulpit and touches your soul in a way you haven’t felt in ages. You feel inspired, you clean yourself up and refrain from giving in to earth’s lusty desires. You get a job and meet someone. You win. But then again, there’s the Weep-y side of this too, a mystical blight that corrodes the core of LEWE’s ruminations. Was this recorded in an abandoned crackhouse, a haunted grain silo, one of those tunnels they used to break that drug kingpin out of jail, or a well in Norway? I can guarantee it’s one of these four things, so if you figure it out hit me up on twitter (@gumshoegrant, I bet a ton of you don’t know that; lordy). Until then I’ll be staring into a mirror while this tape plays on a loop, a crucifix in my hand and a drink in the other (and I don’t drink). All levity aside, I admire the sacred nature of such endeavors, and assume those of you already gazing at Moon Glyph or kindred labels like Captcha and Holy Infinite Freedom Revival will fall right in line.
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