Nodolby — Deranged/U​nlaced
The first side, “deranged”, starts with reverberating synth abuse and tape fumble. The overall sound is certainly noisy, but its not especially pummelling or harsh; some of the synth sounds are hard, some are splashy, but they are all softened by the reverb and tape saturation. The tape spew and wobble also adds to this, so that rather than being a work of aggression, its an exploration of decrepitude and decay - and to that end, perhaps also a sense of melancholy.
This feeling is echoed in the second piece, “unlaced”, which takes up side b. The track is entirely made up of acoustic sounds made by household objects (I would assume), vocal/chewing sounds and musical instruments; for instruments, read: guitar, glockenspiel and singing bowl. So, its a clattery, “noisy” collage; with the shades of cartoonishness which always colour this kind of piece. But underlying, I do feel a similar melancholy (or at least glumness); which I can’t clearly explain, but perhaps its due to the use of household objects - hearing inanimate objects singing and brought to life, knowing that they spend most of their time unwoken. So the order of the day is tapping, scraping, banging and bowing; with no discernible processing at all - beyond a small, scratchy, faltering loop that appears midway through the piece. The overall tone presents a much more colourful, dynamic counterpoint to “deranged”.
This is a good, little tape. (I don’t use “little” patronisingly, just as a literal description of its length.) Two sides of very different constructions, both with clear care paid to pacing and texture. My only disappointment is that there isn’t a third or fourth track, to really get a sense of the project’s scope and pursuits.