Rough
Music
(Spectral
Press Chapbook Series #5)
Simon
Kurt Unsworth
Spectral
Press (2012)
28
pages
I've had the good fortune to read and review the
first four chapbooks from Spectral Press, so when I received a review
copy of their fifth I was really looking forward to seeing what they
were offering to readers this time around. As it turns out, Simon
Kurt Unsworth brings a literary horror romp that acts almost like a
prelude to his impending collection of stories that will be coming
out through Spectral Press next year. The guy already has quite a few
collections and anthology contributions to his credit, and after
reading this story it's pretty clear that I need to find more of
Simon's work.
This story, clocking in a little over
twenty pages long, involves a married man named Cornish who wakes up
in the middle of the night to sound of wood banging on metal
somewhere outside his townhouse. He looks out his window to the
street below and sees a man wearing a bulbous-shaped mask over his
head, dancing a little jig, and banging a wooden spoon on a pot. The
guy does this for a while then takes a bow and disappears into the
darkness. Imagine seeing that outside your window. Strange
shit, right? Well, it escalates.
As the nights press on and the racket
outside becomes louder and louder, Cornish learns that his wife
doesn't hear a thing, in fact it seems like he's the only guy on the
block who can hear the cacophonous concert in the middle of the
street. Each night, the strange man in the mask is joined by more and
more masked performers until it winds up there is a play of sorts
that is playing out each night, and Cornish realizes that it echoes
facets of his own life, and the masks resemble those of his neighbors
and friends. At the same time, his relationship with his wife is
reinvigorated and more passionate after months of a wedge between
them, in the wake of a transgression on his part. But the disturbing
music and dancing outside his house, despite whatever influence it is
having on his mood and relationship with his wife, it depriving him
of his sleep--and maybe his sanity.
Yet again, Spectral Press finds a gem of
subtlety and escalating strangeness to offer readers. I was really
impressed with the way Simon used the mirroring of Cornish's life
with the mummer performance outside his window. The ending was a bit
abrupt, but it definitely achieved the kind of awkward terror I think
he was aiming for. I'll definitely have to keep an eye out for more
of his work in the future.
