All Of Them Witches : The House of Shadows

Gary Dimes, aka All Of Them Witches, has quietly released The House of Shadows, a folk horror-inspired EP of quiet interludes and Gothic darkness that may well be the last from All Of Them Witches. All good things come to an end, and The House of Shadows is a great way to go out.

Over the course of two LPs, Dimes has delivered strikingly precise horror-inspired electronic records, with Hunters Moon being his most recent from 2018. His work is inspired by soundtracks and John Carpenter, but also newer artists like Wojciech Golczewski and Sinoia Caves. Dimes builds mood from melody and emotional connectivity. Dimes’ musical love began with alternative rock of the late 80s and early 90s, which led to a post-rock band for years before jumping into instrumental/score work. So melody is first with All Of Them Witches.

The House of Shadows EP ends All Of Them Witches on a subtle, refrained note. Quiet but heady in scope, the album very much feels like a score to some early 70s folk horror film. Wicker Man meets Season of the Witch, with touches of Nicholas Roeg thrown in for good measure. At under 20 minutes, the EP floats by like a brisk breeze off the Chatham Waterfront.

The album is comprised of 11 musical vignettes. A mixture of quiet interludes(“Town Folk”, “The Stairs”, “Late October”) and darker noise pieces(“Hollow Eyes”, “Serpentine”), and a mixture of everything in-between. Something like the guitar and mellotron-like strings of “Old Wives Tale” compliments the longer in scope ambient tones of “Collecting The Dead”. “Misery Mask” has the dreamy 80s vibe of Charles Bernstein’s A Nightmare On Elm Street score. “Late October” almost feels like a reprise of what’s come before in acoustic guitar form. It feels like a proper goodbye, if it wasn’t for the ethereal ending “Winter’s Lair” gives us.

The House of Shadows feels like an ending. It’s a tempered and consistent Gothic musical world which allows us to lose ourselves for a short amount of time. A chapter closing, so a new one can start.

‘The House of Shadows’ is available now via Burning Witches Records. Buy it here.