“She Hunts At Night” : Digging Into Pye Corner Audio’s ‘Prowler’

I didn’t discover Pye Corner Audio until 2016. I was in the midst of healing from back surgery(herniated disc) and I was obsessively searching the Mondo/Death Waltz Recording Company’s website to see if I could snag any soundtracks(for therapeutic purposes, of course.)

During that time I’d found the amazing Pentagram Home Video’s Who’s Out There?, as well as the 10 inch release by Victims titled Form Hell. These were major releases for me, as they were electronic music that wasn’t of the techno/house/jungle and general EDM variety. EDM – while electronic music I respect – wasn’t my “in” with electronic music. My in was bands like Boards of Canada, Tangerine Dream, Tycho, and Rival Consoles.

While all of these bands dabbled in dance floor rhythms on occasion, it was more about creating a mood and shaping this dream-like world with synthesizers and drum machines. Heady soundscapes that built dystopian worlds via darkened melodies and lo-fi beats(or no beats at all.)

In the midst of that time frame I discovered Pye Corner Audio.

After a little googling and searching I bought The Spiral and Stars Shine Like Eyes from Mondo and was floored at what I discovered; sparse, lo-fi beats accompanied by eerily melodious sounds. They felt like these melancholy tracks pulled from some long lost early 80s apocalyptic sci-fi flick. Slinky beats that made even the most rhythm-less head bob along. Yet there was a ghostly quality, too; haunted songs for robots having an existential crisis, or sounds for lonely specters with nobody to haunt.

Pye Corner Audio(aka Martin Jenkins..aka The Head Technician) became my new musical obsession. I snatched up Sleep Games, Stasis, and then Hollow Earth which made up a trilogy of sorts. There was also the masterpiece series of Black Mills Tapes, originally four volumes of subtle, haunted electronic music that came out on cassette. In 2020 a 5-LP box set came out compiling them all on vinyl, along with a new Vol. 5. I bought it originally digitally, but eventually caved and snagged the vinyl set.

There are EPs and collaborations that have come along the way, but one album I never got my hands on was Prowler from 2015. It was one that Mondo had as a distributed title, but by the time I woke up and smelled the lo-fi electro tunes they were sold out. So I let that one go, that is until now.

An email arrived in my inbox alerting me that Pye Corner Audio had just released a remastered version of Prowler to kick 2024 off. It may not be vinyl, but it is remastered with new artwork by Martin Jenkins himself.

This is the first time I’ve really dug into this album and it’s stunning. Each track is like the pure essence of PCA; tracks are sparse, but have everything they need. Subtle dance beats underscore a kind of electro dread. Title track “Prowler” oozes with unease and shaded intentions as the pulse-like rhythm moves us along like the rail car in a fun house. There’s a kind of cinematic sleaze that emanates from the track, and I can’t get enough of it.

Prowler as a whole is sweatier and sleazier than anything that came before. The haunted tracks of before have been replaced with this sort of “walking home alone at midnight” kind of queasiness. Tracks like “After Dark”, “She Hunts At Night”, and “Something Happened” slip into your subconscious much like a hypnotist laying seeds in the mind of the hypnotized. There’s touches of Cliff Martinez’ Drive score in album opener “After Dark”. It’s subtle disco pulse and sleek synth line accentuate both visceral reality and the gauzy dream world. The modular click clack of “She Hunts At Night” sounds like Autechre trapped inside a haunted game of Pong. It’s the contrast of simple percussive modular lines and the lush synths in the background that makes for such a compelling listen.

Album closer “Morning” is the shortest track here, at just over two minutes. It’s the most melancholy of all 7 tracks and calls back to the dreamier, psychedelic side of albums like Sleep Games and Black Mills Tapes. There’s also a bit of Reznor/Ross in this hazy piece.

Since finally stumbling across Pye Corner Audio’s sound world back in 2016 I’ve been obsessed ever since. The subtle rhythms, the dreamy synths, and the overall late night/fever dream vibes have kept me a fan ever since. If you haven’t ever taken the plunge and moody electronic music is something you partake in, then Pye Corner Audio is an absolute must for your ears. Need a place to start? How about right here, with Prowler.