Les Cauchemars Naissent La Nuit - Anna & Cynthia [Self Release - 2020]Anna & Cynthia is the 3rd physical release from Les Cauchemars Naissent La Nuit- one of the walled-noise project from respected French noise-maker Julien Skrobek, whom of late has been rather darting & skating in ‘n’ out of the genre- so it’s nice to see him returning to a more formal/ straight take on the genre he’s most know celebrated for. This recent release is a self-release- coming in the form of a fairly elaborate bit of packaging. The release was ltd to ten copies, and the sharpie written silver top CDR comes inside a red envelope featuring stuck on black & white lettering, several paper inserts featuring film stills & release details- with the whole thing presented in a black fishnet bag, that tied up with red ribbon.
Les Cauchemars Naissent La Nuit has been active, but very sporadically since 2014- putting out just five releases to date. The project themes all of its work around the films of cult euro-sleaze maker Jess Franco, and in particular one of the more hazy & tripped out examples of his erotic horror films 1970’s Nightmares Come At Night- which finds a pair club dancers having a sexual tinged friendship- then one of the pair starts having recurring nightmares of her killing people, as the line between reality and fantasy very much blur & hazes.
This release takes in two fifteen-minute tracks- and while as mentioned both of these are very much straight-up walled noise, they still have Skrobek's creativity very much firmly in place. First off we have "Anna De Istria"- here we find an odd sort revving 'n' churn bass drone, which on top features a line tightly set popping ‘n’ snapping static flow. Together these two elements create an almost grinding-yet-hazed type groove to the wall, and the farther you get into the more woozily churning the whole thing seems to get. To begin with, it feels like it’s just the low-end which is slightly waved & sluggish in its attack, but as the minute tick by the crisp-once-tense top layers also take on this quality. I’m guessing both elements here are total set, or just slightly oscillating in their feel- and I think it’s both the skill of Skrobek textural selection and mix that is creating this woozily churning & warping quality.
Second up we have "Cynthia Robins"- this is sequenced straight in after the first track, and the sudden tonal shift works marvelously well. The ‘wall’ brings together a blunt-yet constantly rolling wind drone, this is surrounded by two or three lines a uniformed jittering ‘n’ rattling static- which have quite a rapid & persistent scraping metal down ice feel to them. With this ‘wall’ instead of getting a feeling of waving haze, the atmosphere feels more akin to watching half-ice rain steadily & persistent lash away at dusty & cobwebbed glass corridor- maybe in an overgrown & abandon school building, or in the musty & airless corridor of a left to rot 1970’s business tower block.
Anna & Cynthia is another very well-conceived & composed bit of noise craft to appear from Skrobek- as each ‘wall’ is a perfectly tooled & laid out example of the form. …pretty sure these have are all gone now, which is a pity as it’s another great release that more folks should hear! Roger Batty
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