Discography

Memory 2009

Animal Hospital is Kevin Micka's one-man musical recording and per formance entity. Burying himself in a pile of electronics—shelves of effects, mixing consoles, amps and delay units—Memory is Kevin's latest venture into layered, processed guitar composition. Although composed in this experimental fashion, Memory is a completely realized recording—a beautiful scape of shiny guitar tones, vocal washes, and dramatic build-ups, all of which cohere into a single musical vision.

Memory is about as deliberate a title as you can get, and rightfully so. Recorded in an old bank in west Virginia, an antiquated movie theater lobby, apar tments, studios, and Cape Cod, the album’s realization is similar to a personal recollection of the past; a layered, non-linear, and often vague familiarity of places, things, people, known and unknown in our minds.

Fueled by coffee and hear tache, Memory serves as a highly personal account of its creator manifested into an amalgamation of musical themes, both delicate and brutal. Most notable about Memory is its intimacy—the emotional thread tying his vast compositional approaches together. As an effor t to connect Kevin’s memories with ours and even to engage in one another ’s wanderings—psychic exchanges between composer and listener—Kevin searches out raw beauty within his reper toire of sounds. He per forms guitar, drums, vocals, music boxes, and other gadgets with meticulous care; a detail for precision often discarded by experimental recordings.

Listening to Animal Hospital’s recordings, or seeing him live, is a fascinating experience. On one hand, there is inherent urgency for Kevin to bridge his experiences with the listener through one-man musical showmanship. It is the clever song structures though, with enormous dynamic range and emotional variety, which allow this music to translate tactfully. In this way Memory feels complete, satisfying to a person who yearns for a well-sculpted recording.