Rien — The Contact Mic Recording
This project work has always been very minimal, but here the sound really is stripped back to its bare (and spaced-out) bones- yet the whole thing still mangers to keeps one attention, due it’s taut, tense & fairly varied textural unfold.
This release appeared in July of this year on Bangkok based label Perpetual Abjection. The black acrylic painted CDR, comes presented in a spray-painted black jewel case- this features black ink on black card inlay, and glossy acrylic paint brush strokes on the outside of the case. The release came in an edition of twenty copies, and as of writing this review the label still has a few copies left.
The single untitled track here comes in at forty-one minutes and nineteen seconds- and as mentioned early this is wall noise/ static studies at there most sparse & skeletal. The track is built around a selection of highly controlled rips, tears, or rubs of static- these are spread out in a taught yet very barren and sparse manner. As the track unfolds we move from barely-there drags ‘n’ pops, onto more complex yet spaced series of textured patterns, through to detailed and busy weaves on texture- yet through-out the whole remains extremely focused and tight- never becoming too complex, detailed, or layered- it really is a very concentrated and thoughtful take on static texturing. And oddly for something so pared back, sparse and at times spaced out, there remains both feeling of reason, composition, and most impressive a feeling of tautness.
I guess it goes without saying- this won’t be for everyone, even those who enjoy some walled noise already may not click with this- but for me I found the release very compelling, clever, and skillful- with a keen & fairly distinctive feeling of focused-yet- pared back tension very much present though out the work. To hear/pick up a copy head here,