4 out of 5

Label: Library of the Occult

Produced by: ?

The first lathe cut 7″ in “a monthly series of haunting sounds to accompany the reading of Bram Stoker’s 1897 horror classic DRACULA.” The cover artwork on this is amazing, with an Eerie-cover like negative relief of some vampiric type emerging from a coffin; very fitting for the description.

What’s… not so fitting is what has become my constant issue with Library of the Occult’s releases: the design and concepts don’t sync well with the actual music. Which shouldn’t be a problem, but it’s so heavily themed around concept that it continues to irk me, especially when I quite like a lot of the bands / artists with whom the label works.

The Psychic Circle is actually label owner Tom McDowell’s band, notably – and probably not surprisingly – one of the earliest releasers on the imprint. They’re also, generally, one of the best “themed” acts here, as the live instrumentation (keys, guitar) produces a perfect 70s psych sound that syncs with the group’s sci-fi / fantasy leanings. This brew can work for LOTO, as can some of the 70s-style horror stuff, which is what’s happening on this Dracula 7″: The Psychic Circle channel Hammer style garishness, with bright blood and grooving, key-led funk. It’s synthwave, essentially, but given some extra weight thanks to being produced by analog stuff instead of going wholly digital, and a bit more adventurous than the slavish tributes to Carpenter and the like some other synthwave acts go in for.

The two tracks here are pretty similarly structured, admittedly, but the style sounds so good that that’s fine for the most, especially with the coda added on to Lights Out which shifts it into a more contemplative realm. That said, the similarity is a slight knock, as is the discrepancy in eras – this is not a score for an 1897 Dracula, though it definitely works for stuff a little less than a century after that.