There are records that seem to have been recorded inside a room. “Cabin Fever” sounds as though it was recorded inside a state of mind.
Originally released in 1998 by the small and now-defunct Australian label Avalanche Express, Chris Smith’s first solo album is one of those records that never needs to announce its distance from the outside world. It simply lets that world seep through the walls.
Long out of print, “Cabin Fever” was brought back to life in 2020 by Almost Halloween Time Records, for the first time on vinyl, in a limited edition of only 110 numbered copies, each featuring a handmade, hand-painted cover.
The title itself provides the first clue. Cabin fever is that particular form of restlessness that comes from being confined to the same place for too long. But in Chris Smith’s world, the room is not simply a prison. It is an observatory. From there, you listen to the rain, distant noises, the radio, cars passing by, the outside world continuing to exist while someone remains still, listening to it.
“Cabin Fever” is not simply ambient music, not simply lo-fi, not simply experimental guitar music. It is a form of home recording transformed into a psychological landscape. A small universe built out of sound, where ordinary objects and everyday situations become strange, intimate and slightly threatening.
Listen to Chris Smith ”Cabin Fever” here.
