SLOWGURN — Rate Of Infection

Rate Of Infection is a new digital EP from UK’s SLOWGURN- it features two examples of detailed wall noise texturing, which fitting the release's title is seemingly always multiplying. Each of the two tracks featured here run around the eight-minute mark, and each is as dizzying in their textural multiplication as the other.

The digital download appears on UK’s Death to Dynamics- it features a monochrome cover, which takes in a swaying shape like landscape, which is both faded/ corrupted in places- I’m not sure this fits the release title, but it’s ok, I guess. The EP can be Downloaded from just here 

First up we have just shy of eight and half minutes of “000015”. This opens with a selection of folding/ sliding type textures, which sound like they could be close up recordings of someone folding a piece of card or paper- but fairly soon this comparison fades, as the multiplying layers increase. Added in here we get fumbles, low-end fiddles, slides, and hisses- these build up a sort of many-limbed insect-like quality, which deepens and expands as time ticks by. Impressively it never full becomes just an overloaded blur of sound layers- with sound separation just staying in place, so when focusing/ concentrating you can still make out every layer's detail & tone.

Finally, we have “000015b”- which comes in at the slightly shorter seven & a half minute mark. This starts off as three or four static rushes and drags. As we move on more things rapidly expand, as we get slower ice like slices, grainy like worming’s, descending static grained bumps, and sandy like slides. Where the first track had an insect-like vibe, this feels like watching sped-up footage of three of four caterpillars devouring an apple. Once again, the layers remain well defined in both their clarity & shape.

Rate Of Infection is certainly an interesting experiment in textural multiplication- and it will be nice to see SLOWGURN go further down this sonic wormhole in the future, with maybe slightly longer tracks being offered up too.