Comprised merely of Dexter Tortoriello and Megan Messina,
Houses is an electronic outfit originally hailing from Chicago. Their music has a haunting beauty that can rarely sustain itself for an entire album, nevertheless the two outstanding "studio" projects they have released.
All Night, their 2011 release was recorded mainly in tiny cabin in Hawaii, and 2013's
A Quiet Darkness was made from samples collected in abandoned roadside structures along California highways. These painstaking and uncommon recording methods come through on the albums in spades with often ambient and always amazingly engrossing results.
For more on how the project was started, here are their roots in Tortoriello's words from their
Tumblr:
"I got laid off from my job at the end of last year and decided I needed a change. My girlfriend put in her two weeks and we moved out to a little cabin in Papaikou, Hawaii. It’s a pretty remote place outside of Hilo (i.e no plumbing/electricity/gas). We worked for meals during the day cultivating indigenous microorganisms and learning the basics of sustainable living. We drank showered and cooked with rain water. It was a beautifully simple experience. In our downtime, she would paint and I would record. We’d have to light candles in an effort to save solar power to keep my computer running. We inspired each other a lot out there, and I think it shows on the album. She sings on a lot of the tracks on All Night. The music comes from a place of love and ease. The video for Endless Spring was shot there in our spare time, and the music was sketched out loosely over the course of a few months. We just kind of melted into one person. We were able to keep our heads above water for a few months before we both went broke and moved back to Chicago last month. I put together all the arrangements and field recordings over the last few weeks, and that became All Night. "
