Steinebach — Derotation
The first 4 tracks are vaguely industrial in their blasted, mangled beyond recognition treatment of vintage tape and vinyl materials, but generally avoid any actual harshness, and settle into a William Basinski-esque appreciation of hypnotic tape loop repetition. The resonant, glistening and uneven edges of the degraded and crumbled sounds form a magick sort of static backdrop in which the mind loves to infer. I am reminded of the purely loop-based Nocturnal Emissions albums "Mouth of Babes", "Cathedral" and others, repeating otherworldly beacons that keep one awake as they blink all night, distractingly invasive and active despite many verbatim repetitions. As with Nocturnal Emissions, Steinebach's loops appear to be sourced primarily from scratchy old classical music records, presenting a strangely distorted image of the original music's elegance.
"Singen", the 26 minute final piece, is really like 'side B' of the album. It breaks from the tape loop format for a cold drone that extends like an arm dangerously far into the opaque unknown. It is one of the simplest yet most effectively cavernous pieces of dark ambient I've heard in some time, consisting only of its ghostly tone and the trail of reverberations it leaves behind. It's comparable to a similarly desolate and sad track on Lustmord's "Heresy", the rushing of air through unknown cracks of lightless chasms that have seen no life for centuries. More hopeful and consonant resonances swell into prominence around the 9 minute mark, like a distant light approaching. As more time passes, the sound undulates with more subtlety eventually smooths into droning evenness.
All in all, a simple yet quite listenable and repeatable recording, with two contrasted yet complimentary halves. I'm partial to this style of ritualistic moon loops, having loved the works of Nurse With Wound, Coil and Nocturnal Emissions. The textures found here are shimmering, immersive and pleasing to the ear. I will be happy to collect whatever this artist creates in the future, and hope to find more holy frequencies such as these.