Abysse — Bulles Noires
The physical release appeared in an edition of 20 copies- these are sadly now all gone. The unlabelled CDR came in clear slip sleeve, which took in a stuck on cartoon graffiti like teethed fish & a paper inlay taking in the track listing, recording date, and set-up. The whole thing comes in a pop button black fabric pouch- which features a stitched letter A in white.
The release takes in two tracks, each of which falls around the eight-minute mark, and first up is "002". This first track is built around a fairly constant & sluggishly throbbing electro bass pulse; around this, we get a shifting selection of circuiting grey static scrubs, sudden high pitched stretches, and slowly swirling grain swishes ‘n’ washes. The tracks a nice blend of edgy brood, & atmospheric-yet- unpredictable texturing, with sudden slightly more seared noise detail.
The next track "003" opens with searing sweeps of high pitched noise sour-ness, before fairly soon a pulsing & constantly choppy bass tone comes into play- around this we get more pronounced high pitched siren wave sourness, & galloping static grain washes- which from time-to-time have addition of crisp-yet rapid static jitters, shovels & hissers. This second track nicely builds on the atmosphere of the first track, adding more seared tension & shifting textured detail to the mix.
As debuts go Bulles Noires is fairly impressive, in both it’s focused & distinctive use of sound, and building mood- bringing together elements of electro brooding-ness, textured noise, and tense improv. I look forward to hearing what Abysse has to offer up next.