Figures Of Solitude — The Night Watchman
This release offers up four thirty minute slices of often detailed & mult- layered wall noise. And it's themed around the work of a Night Watchmen( which is apparently Mr Skrobek present job), and the working hours of 7.30pm to 7.30 am- with each track been named after a set of hours between the two mentioned times.
Opening up proceedings we have “07:30 PM- 10:30 PM”- this track is built around a muffled, fairly thin & slightly distant sounding low-end juddering ‘n’ purring tone. Weaved into this ia a more focused ‘n’ sharpe jittering ‘n’ rattling tone. Both elements here unfold in a rather fixed/ set manner, and on the whole track is a quite an urgent yet enjoyable 'wall' that sit’s somewhere between a flaming roast and a freezing purr.
The second track on disc one is entitled “10:30 PM- 1:30AM”. This track is a very atmospherically moody yet searing example of ‘wall-making’, which brings together a deep aquatic like rumble with a thinner & slightly clipped jittering static texture. Once again this ‘wall’ is fairly fixed in it’s feel, through I’m sure I do detect some very subtle textural patterned shifts in both textures, and some subtle slowing & blurring going on too. All told it’s a great track & I enjoy the mixture of the more taut /stark thinner static jitter, and the hypnotic & murky brooding ambience of the aquatic purr.
Moving onto the second disc, and first up we have “ 1:30 AM- 4:30 AM”. And this track brings together a really meaty & dense low-end earth bound like rumble, with a thinner line of urgent jittering. Once again this track is quite sonically descriptive in it’s feel, and for me the deep rumble sounds like some vast & huge machine continual drill on & on through earth, while the thinner texture brings to mind the sound of a constantly jittering/vibrating of earth on of top the metal cab of some earth moving machine.
Last up we have “04:30 AM- 07:30 AM”, and this track I guess is one of the most eerier & atmospheric ‘wall’ of the lot. It’s brings together a really creepy winter wind like billow, which is topped with this thin yet agitated stark static crackle. Both of the two main textures remain firm through-out, though at the back of the whole thing is this extremely condensed & very distant music element. This element is so distant & far away that you can barely make it out, let alone fully define it, but to me it sounds like warbling trumpet or parade music of some sort. This element really nicely captures the feeling of been in a deserted area of a night time town or city, as from time to time you just get very distant hint of revelry & music.
The set comes in a DVD case, which feature a yellow street light tinged picture of a deserted city street….which is rather simply, yet pefectly fits the releases theme.
So all in all I’d say all four tracks here are effective & rewarding in their own right, but together they make for a very captivating & often moody static noise/ wall noise journey, which has a rather original & distinctive theme to it. Lets hope Mr Skrobek themes more future releases around his Night watch work, as it's a great theme & this set it most satisfying & consistent through-out.