Knell — Last Ten Meters
The last release that I had the pleasure of reviewing on the Utech Records label was the Vulture Club's killer manipulated distorto-guitar drone fest Live Young, Die Fast and Leave an Exquisite Corpse. This disc, like the Vulture Club disc, is sourced from guitar as well, and is droney in spots, but it's a different proposition altogether, not to infer that it's bad at all.
Last Ten Meters is the debut album (as far as I know) by Knell (Johannes Buff). The instrumentation is credited as "guitar, unprocessed field recording, sound sources plus the 'cars playing chimes' of St. Esteben France and Felix Buff's drum training sessions". A fairly bizarre album credit for sure. I'm suprised to find that the field recordings are unprocessed, because they come across as very abtract.
Last Ten Meters consists of two unnamed tracks, roughly split evenly over fifty-plus minutes. The first track starts off with plucked low (as in bass) guitar notes, plucked chords and some percussion, the origin of which is impossible to determine. Waves of noise, presumably sourced from field recordings, undulate in the background. The waves constantly change throughout the piece, which gives it an organic feel. About halfway through the volume drops to almost silence, then calmly returns with plucked two or three note chords over more relaxed noise.
The second track develops a bit slower than the first and it's also a bit more abstract. The background noise dominates much of the piece, building and adding feedback until it reaches a crescendo about halfway through. It ends, like the first track, quietly, with softly strummed chords, this time over a more feedback induced drone.
Though there are similarities between the two tracks, it isn't a problem, because there are enough differences to make them distinctive. The entire work is bathed in reverb. While the use of reverb usually blunts the edges, Johannes Buff uses it in such a way that is has the opposite effect. It provides sharp echoes to the trebly pointed guitar sounds, and adds a sheen to the field recordings. The guitars throughout the disc aren't highly processed or overly messed with and are more melodic than abstract. The simple melodies make for a couterpoint which is complementary to the background noise.
As to be expected from the Utech label, the package is an exemplary example of minimalism. The cover consists of a beautifully printed wraparound cover with a cool photo of a chair in a dark room on the front. Last Ten Meters is a creative, dark and mysterious debut. It's another fine example of great guitar based music from a label which is really on a roll.