Coinhammer - Coinhammer

Coinhammer is the neoclassical duo of songwriter and composer Daniel Knox and multidisciplnary electronic artist and composer Nick_Jones. These two artists have known each other for over two decades. Jones played tuba on Knox's album "Evryman for Himself", Knox acted in Jones' first produced play, they've recently scored Lily Ekimian and A.T Regheb's upcoming short film The Sailor, so on and so forth. Knox and Jones have decided to take their artistic direction to a new height with Coinhammer, wherein their compositions that revolve around neoclassical music swell with ambiance, industrial, and some noise. Thus, what I walked away from at the end of Coinhammer's self-titled debut album was less an album of music, but one of beauteous dreamscapes and nightmarish experiences. 

Appropriately beginning off the album is the track 'Opener', a three-and-a-half minute track that expertly crafts harmonious string instruments with the backdrop of rolling hills. I heard birds chirping and it felt as if the sun was just rising above the horizon. Alongside those calming sounds, however, was a deep and lurking unease. This was easily due to how the string instruments began to crack and distort as the song went on; the mechanical sound of something devastating also broke the otherwise peaceful daydream. It is an exquisitely well done song, and one that I can easily see used in either a horror film or a war film depicting a hopeful scene right before all hell breaks loose.

The doldrum of a clock brought me into the following track 'In Memoriam'. It follows with rumbling atmospheric sounds which lent it an ominous aura. The fairly bleak track does last for five-minutes and forty-seven seconds. The further the song went on the less tension I felt; it was well structured for the first three minutes, but after that the song overstayed its welcome. If this were cut a bit shorter, I feel as if the anxiety the song brings about would have maintained. 'Tcelfer' came in next with a beautiful piano ballad. However, as with 'Opener', the elegance seemed a façade. In the background, fast-paced strings whispered uneasily. I felt as if this fantasy Coinhammer builds around their music is nothing more than a covered nightmare. And I love it. 

'Alternate Rewinder' comes up next as a five-minute and fifty-second neoclassical and ambient spiel. I find it hard to grant an alluring aspect to the song, however. Its experimental nature never really allows any one sound to pop out, but rather meddles in loudness. Effects and samples simply melt into one another. The following song, 'Hallow', however is one of the best pieces on the album. I love the violin that carried me blissfully through the song and the piano work that gave me something tangible to grab onto. Very subtle noise effects are sprinkled throughout the track as well, giving it Coinhammer's unique sense of dread. The heart-rate monitor (if that's what it is in the background) adds another touch of reality to the track. 

A rather annoying, tape-looping-like noise began off 'Condition' and remained a steadfast component of the composition until around the one-minute and thirty-second mark. A desperate ambiance does accompany it that slowly gains volume starting around the thirty-second mark, but it did not squash the sound altogether. What replaces both sounds after is static noise and what sounds like an old, steam-engine training running on tracks. I hated the two-minute and fifty-second mark which just blasted noise into my headphones at too-loud-a-volume. Simply put, this was not a favored song on the album. 

'Reflect' is another short-lived, albeit beautiful ambient piano ballad on the album. I believe I have exhausted options that tell you how much I love these songs, so I will bluntly say that this is not a song to skip over. What comes next is a high pitched squealing from 'Escalator'. A very, very hard sound on the ears and one that was extremely unwelcome that lasted for around one-minute and twenty-two seconds. Despite the other experimental noises intertwined in those beginning moments, due to that noise I am unable to enjoy that segment of the song. Following that, however, is a wonderfully bizarre song featuring reversed instruments, spoken-word samples, and the like. It is just a shame the opening of it had to be so awful. 

Coinhammer's debut, then, is a hit-and-miss experience but one that I nonetheless look fondly upon. I understand that there are several moments on this album that now make me either turn the song down or completely skip them, but when Coinhammer is at their best they put me in a zone of Zen. 'Opener', 'Tcelfer', 'Hallow', and 'Reflect' are easily my favorite songs on the album. Alone, I would likely rate them an eight out of ten or higher. However, I must take into account the album as a whole. With the amount of bumps and misses that I found on the album ('Alternate Rewinder', the beginning of 'Escalator' for examples) it is only fair that points are deducted in equal matter. Therefore, I rank Coinhammer's debut with a six-and-a-half out of ten; it's an album that I will surely come back to, though I will be picky with the songs I listen to. 

This review was commissioned through our Ko-fi page.
May 12 2021