Robert Crouch — A Gradual Accumulation of Ideas Becomes Truth

Here’s another CD from the Line label, presented in its customary, smart style: a card wallet with a photo on the front, and album details and a short text on the back. Crouch presents us with five tracks, the first nearly reaching nine minutes, the others all past ten; all of them are cut from the same cloth: concentrated, detailed modular synth explorations that are - above all else - very focussed. There is none of the chaotic ‘bleep and poot’ that can often come with this territory, instead, Crouch pursues slow, steady transformations.

The first piece, Hohle Fels, is essentially a deep, resonant drone - though one full of movement and modulation. It’s an effective introduction to the album, and sets out Crouch’s stall: simple, but formal, beauty at an unhurried pace. The following track, 3184 Pullman, Costa Mesa, 1974, is immediately more layered and active, utilising organ-like and choral-esque sounds, as well as a glitching, clicking rhythm. It swells into a shimmering drone around the halfway mark, before burbling percussives (somewhere between raindrops on a car roof, and drums made from drainpipes) enter into one channel. It’s simultaneously lighter and heavier than the preceding piece, adding more colour but with a more formal air. Limbo Town (Croatoan) is, again, founded on strong drones, but here they seem to carry a more emotive, cinematic weight. It is deep and moody, to the extent that it builds to quite an oppressive atmosphere. Although noise makes its presence felt in several tracks, it is often peeking out from the wings; here, the entire piece achieves a noisy tone, reminding me of works by Thomas Koner, or the seminal Isolationism compilation. The penultimate track, Bellona (version 0-375-70668-2), commences with bitcrushed noises, and tones lurching in lazy rhythms. It opens out to a more expansive piece, still marked by those rhythms, but with a distinct wobbliness and wooziness throughout. It often manages the feat of sounding monolithic and unstable at the same time. Though again founded on drone, Potbelly Hill, the final work, has enough rhythmic strength to escape that tag. It’s probably the most elaborate piece on the album, featuring circling stabs over swirling organ-like layers, melodic riffs and harmonies - and playing with these elements, in terms of timbre and space. It’s a very consummate end to the album.

A Gradual Accumulation of Ideas Becomes Truth is a very solid album, and one that lovers of drone or synth works will undoubtedly enjoy. It’s a very focussed listen, without gimmick or novelty, and certainly an immersive one. It occupies a bountiful ground between more hardboiled formal electronics, and those modular works that lean more heavily towards techno/etc areas; the last track, in particular, inhabits that world nicely. Elsewhere, the near-glacial pace of change, and elements like split stereo production, bring a formality to the proceedings. Ultimately, though, the album works on the basic level of simply quite beautiful sound, with Crouch subtly pushing and pulling sounds and tones. Its ultimate virtue, however, is perhaps to remind us that modular synth work need not be constant severe tweaking and knob-turning. Line never seem to let their quality drop, and this album is another accomplished addition to their discography.