Dark, horror-inspired electro from out in the sticks
Who He?
Joe James. A master of macabre and an elusive figure who’s been squirrelled away in a west Norfolk bedroom for near to a decade, prolifically writing dark and disturbing tracks. Once known as Mushnocandy, his latest moniker, Himuro Mansion, is named after a haunted house on the outskirts of Tokyo, featured in the 2002 video game Project Zero.
Why Himuro Mansion?
His back catalogue will keep you busy. He uploads (and deletes) his work online at a speed that’s hard to keep up with. It’s a vast and eclectic collection of some 250+ demos and nine albums over recent years, ranging from pig squealing vocals and walls of catastrophic noise, to epiphany-inducing serene soundtracks. Besides the music, he’s a horror-obsessed film maker. His first feature, ‘Amber’s Haunt’, is a tale of psychological disturbance, death and strip clubs and is due for release as a limited run of VHS tapes at the end of this year.
Tell Us More
If a VHS horror flick isn’t your thing, you should hunt out his first-class soundtrack to the ‘Disturbed Girl’ trilogy of novels by James Howell. There’s also a new release on the horizon. ‘I Will Haunt You If I Have To’ is a narrative-driven album based around the disappearance of a teenage girl called Ethel Summers. It’s a euphoric melting pot of techno, trance, breakbeat and synthwave, which is due to surface online around Halloween, of course.
