Benjamin Finger, James Plotkin, & Mia Za — Pleasure -Voltage
[Karlrecords — 2019]★★★★★
Reviewed 7 August 2019by Jan Warnke
When I got the album Pleasure -Voltage for a review, I was very hesitant what to think of it... The names of the artists seemed familiar to me (especially James Plotkin, but we'll get to that soon ...), but I didn't know quite what to expect. So I first had to weigh up: listening, then researching or vice versa? I chose the latter and started to get as much information as possible about this (strange?) Collaborative work. The idea for Pleasure - Voltage was born at Benjamin Finger's studio in Oslo. There he also set the musical frame for the project and passed the idea on to his collaborators who got inspired by it. Before it got a release the two tracks premiered for the first time at the Rewire Festival 2018 by the collaborating multi-instrumentalists and artists.
However, before we turn to the two pieces on the album, it is worthwhile to deal with the artists! As I mentioned earlier, the name James Plotkin caught my eye. He was already known to me by his old Grindcore band Old Lady Drivers (or OLD), with a release appear on UK’s Earache records. Later he was also a member of the Sludge / Doom legend Khanate, where he tugged the bass alongside Stephen O'Malley. But, I what didn’t know was that he’d explored dark ambience, as well ad worked electronically with Scorn / Mick Harris, KK: Zero, and many others. A surprise! For Pleasure - Voltage he is playing electric guitar, the Granularsynthese, and has mixed this album.
The Austrian-based composer, e-violinist and vocalist Mia Zabelka added the very emotional e-violin and electronic devices to the pieces. in the past she's come up with a variety of interesting works and collaborations, with well-known artists such as e.g. John Zorn, Robin Rimbaud, & Dälek.
The head of the project, Benjamin Finger, is a composer, producer of electronic music, DJ, photographer, and filmmaker. Since his debut album Woods of Broccoli in 2009, he has produced a vast number of films and music while ignoring the rules of its genres. On Pleasure - Voltage he contributed synthesizer, piano and field recordings.
Also, the artwork of the album should be mentioned! This comes from the Norwegian artist Sverre Malling - it’s an illustrated sculpture titled Aspirant, and it presents a complex mix of elements from classical art, botany, occultism to psychedelics. So the style mix of this work is very fitting in terms of the sound creation of the musicians!
Now for the actual album:
Pleasure - Voltage extends in its tonality and substance beyond the boundaries of Electronica, Ambient, Psychedelia, and Drone ... But it’s these exact ingredients that make this work so characteristic. It thrills with its almost hypnotizing sound-scapes that hum and drone, only to slither back into glitchy, glittering textures just to evolve into the unexplored musical territory of emotional piano and violin sounds.
Already in the first piece "Hostile Structures" the wonderful violin sounds breathed the track into life. Deep drone textures working disturbingly in the background and build up a lot of tension. But sometimes the patience of the listener is put to a test... we find well-known sounds and organic instruments struggle for supremacy, but more often than not they just resist against the synthetic, industrial and sometimes atonal abstractions. There is also a certain amount of disharmony between the players, but this positively effects the flow on the whole thing- it's like if every musician within his frame has a free reach. A Very interesting sonic concept
For the second piece "Kaleidoscopic Nerves" the sound becomes very lush and full again and the image of an orchestra manifests in front of my inner eye. Paired with the booming guitar work, which reminds me partly of Fennesz, it floats again and again in a border space of superimposed musical ideas. Short phrases are introduced just to get extinguished and rearranged seconds later. But it works! Even the glitchy elements, which I usually dislike, fit into the overall composition and make Pleasure - Voltage a wonderfully interesting listening experience. The album was released February of this year on Berlin label Karlrecords and it is available in both digital form and on 180g vinyl.
However, before we turn to the two pieces on the album, it is worthwhile to deal with the artists! As I mentioned earlier, the name James Plotkin caught my eye. He was already known to me by his old Grindcore band Old Lady Drivers (or OLD), with a release appear on UK’s Earache records. Later he was also a member of the Sludge / Doom legend Khanate, where he tugged the bass alongside Stephen O'Malley. But, I what didn’t know was that he’d explored dark ambience, as well ad worked electronically with Scorn / Mick Harris, KK: Zero, and many others. A surprise! For Pleasure - Voltage he is playing electric guitar, the Granularsynthese, and has mixed this album.
The Austrian-based composer, e-violinist and vocalist Mia Zabelka added the very emotional e-violin and electronic devices to the pieces. in the past she's come up with a variety of interesting works and collaborations, with well-known artists such as e.g. John Zorn, Robin Rimbaud, & Dälek.
The head of the project, Benjamin Finger, is a composer, producer of electronic music, DJ, photographer, and filmmaker. Since his debut album Woods of Broccoli in 2009, he has produced a vast number of films and music while ignoring the rules of its genres. On Pleasure - Voltage he contributed synthesizer, piano and field recordings.
Also, the artwork of the album should be mentioned! This comes from the Norwegian artist Sverre Malling - it’s an illustrated sculpture titled Aspirant, and it presents a complex mix of elements from classical art, botany, occultism to psychedelics. So the style mix of this work is very fitting in terms of the sound creation of the musicians!
Now for the actual album:
Pleasure - Voltage extends in its tonality and substance beyond the boundaries of Electronica, Ambient, Psychedelia, and Drone ... But it’s these exact ingredients that make this work so characteristic. It thrills with its almost hypnotizing sound-scapes that hum and drone, only to slither back into glitchy, glittering textures just to evolve into the unexplored musical territory of emotional piano and violin sounds.
Already in the first piece "Hostile Structures" the wonderful violin sounds breathed the track into life. Deep drone textures working disturbingly in the background and build up a lot of tension. But sometimes the patience of the listener is put to a test... we find well-known sounds and organic instruments struggle for supremacy, but more often than not they just resist against the synthetic, industrial and sometimes atonal abstractions. There is also a certain amount of disharmony between the players, but this positively effects the flow on the whole thing- it's like if every musician within his frame has a free reach. A Very interesting sonic concept
For the second piece "Kaleidoscopic Nerves" the sound becomes very lush and full again and the image of an orchestra manifests in front of my inner eye. Paired with the booming guitar work, which reminds me partly of Fennesz, it floats again and again in a border space of superimposed musical ideas. Short phrases are introduced just to get extinguished and rearranged seconds later. But it works! Even the glitchy elements, which I usually dislike, fit into the overall composition and make Pleasure - Voltage a wonderfully interesting listening experience. The album was released February of this year on Berlin label Karlrecords and it is available in both digital form and on 180g vinyl.
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