Slaves No More — House Of Dolls

Well, just as I hadn’t properly heard Sun Ra before reviewing Sun Ra, I’m probably one of the few people who listen to power electronics who’ve never concentratedly listened to Sutcliffe Jugend, Slaves No More being the project that Kevin Tomkins and Paul Taylor initiated after they ended the legendary Sutcliffe Jugend. So I come to this with fresh ears, and there won’t be any comparison of the two projects, for better or worse. House Of Dolls is a two disc album, released by 4iB Records, and packaged in a card wallet covered in images and collages that clearly connect with power electronics aesthetics formally, but are slightly more cryptic and obscure than your usual black and white xerox affair. There are ten tracks, the longest being nearly half an hour long and the shortest nearly nine minutes in length. Each are titled ‘Scene I’, ‘Scene II’, and so forth.

‘Scene I’ is indeed the longest piece here, and it slowly moves through a series of sections of abstract electronics, referencing certain genres - noise, techno, ambient - without ever committing to them or sitting comfortably in them. It begins with the slightest hint of Tangerine Dream, with noise and synth swirls over a rhythmic pulse; this builds into waves of echoing noise, accompanied by smaller electronic sounds and glitches. Around the ten minute mark, the track lowers itself into a very busy ambience, with lots of synth twiddling, before breaking down even further into an eerie electronic shimmer; from here it builds again into krautrock-esque techno, before again dipping down into eerie passages that present a kind of unsignposted ambience: it's ‘ambient’ but it doesn’t conform to any standard form of the genre. The piece ends, and it’s genuinely a shock, with a short section of splitting, trebly noise that did shake me from thinking I might already know where the album was going. 'Scene II’ is nearly ten minutes of modulating synth patterns; at the beginning they are reverberating and building, with nice overtones being teased out, but after three minutes acidic patterns appear over the discordant drone, until the track begins to wind up into a monstrous, and muscular, piece of trance informed, again, by krautrock. In the end section, there are explosions of noise - as well as very effective granular moments where the track disintegrates; by this stage the work breaks down into washes of noise, echoing splinters, and retreating, mournful tones: a great track. ‘Scene III’ mixes things up; it commences with a strong, urgent drone but about a third of the way through, heavily processed, heavily stressed sounds burst in, really being chewed up; the rest of the track unfolds moving between thick, restrained drones and more kinetic sounds, forced through effects. The final few minutes move effortlessly from dark reverberations to a quietening eeriness. The last track on the first disc, ‘Scene IV’, starts with an almost stately ambient drone, accompanied by some stealthy bass playing; however, it soon takes a more psychedelic turn, with what sounds like a processed thumb piano, and acid squiggles. By the end, it all rather resembles a particularly wonky track from some obscure Giallo - whistling section including - and that can only be a good thing.

’Scene V’ kicks off the second half of the album with a strong expansive drone, melding organ, guitar, feedback, and electronics - as much as you can discern any individual layers. The bones of the drone build and shift, whilst the more surface aspects stay fairly regular throughout - it’s a very heavenward blast of sound. ’Scene VI’ begins with a quite different feel: a repeating electronic melody accompanied by breathy synth sounds and kinetic squiggles and bleeps; after a short crescendo, some slurring beats suddenly enter, transforming the track into a drunken trip-hop which ends not long after it starts. It then pursues a splintered, aggressive electroacoustic feel, often combining warmer, more inviting sounds and textures with intrusive, interruptive, harsher elements, building to a reverbed blown-out darker section before dissipating into more scattered sounds. ‘Scene VII’ begins with a more obviously ambient tone, with angelic drones and echoing, filtered rhythmic patterns, before dipping and then reemerging as an ominous passage of heartbeat rhythms and tense electronics - it seems to go back to early industrial music in terms of feel. This then develops into something stronger that is more reminiscent of, for example, Front 242, before accelerating into noise and breaking. ‘Scene VIII’ has an effectively restrained start, with looping, mysterious sounds, and layers of different drones; this all burbles along and is eventually joined by much more active and incongruent sounds - including an abused Casio keyboard I think - before dropping down to a more subdued drone, augmented by echoing electronics, that wouldn’t be out of place on a power electronics album. Next up, the thirteen minute ’Scene IX’ starts off with a looping synth line which could again grace a power electronics release; this slowly builds until it becomes a strong, lumbering drone, surrounded by small buzzing sounds and shards of electronics. During the second half a guitar line appears that’s reminiscent of Justin Broadrick’s Jesu project, and it made me realise that the, admittedly more guitar-orientated, work of Kleistwahr is a good comparison for House of Dolls. The final track, ‘Scene X’, is a decidedly noisier closer, presenting a wall of ripping sound that sounds like the rest of the album pushed to saturation. It’s effectively treble-heavy giving it an urgent feel, and electronic debris and feedback swirl in and out of the maelstrom without ever overcoming it. The last minute or so becomes stuttering and choppy - either a neat production trick or because the CD was skipping… either way, it’s all a grand ending and palette cleanser.

Whilst I’ve never properly listened to Sutcliffe Jugend, I know their reputation and vague sound, so House Of Dolls was quite a shock for me. Beyond the final track, there are moments and some sustained passages of noise, and even the odd earsplitting barrage, but on the whole the album plots a path between drone and electroacoustic abstraction - and never falls comfortably into any distinct recognisable genre. As mentioned before, I think Kleistwahr is a good reference point but you might also imagine a really claustrophobic, focussed Coil, especially with all the layers of wayward electronic sounds. There is an overwhelming amount of material here; it’s not remotely minimal or defined, instead it’s messy, in the best way, with lots of layers and sounds complimenting and fighting one another. There are quite a few ‘digital-sounding’ sounds and normally these annoy me, but here the messy aesthetic effectively blends them into a greater sound. Those of you who enjoy noisy drone will find much here, as will those who enjoy the notion of a monolithic, cryptic, power electronics remixing project.