‘PLEASE PLAY AS LOUD AS POSSIBLE’. If this
statement, stuck on a record, often serves at masking
its mediocrity, it is certainly not the case with this
second album from Canadian duo Re:. Following an intricat
first album, Re: return with an even more complex and
beautiful record. As they expand their sonic realm,
RE: collate here one of the most breathtaking series
of soundscapes heard in a long time.
Ian Ilavsky, who was once found officiating with Sofa
and now a regular member of Sackville, occasional contributor
with A Silver Mt. Zion, and most notably co-founder
of Constellation Records, home of Godspeed You Black
Emperor!, and Aden Evens met in the Philosophy department
at McGill University in Montreal, where Evens had just
moved to from Boston, in 1990. While they were both
engaged in a variety of projects, they began working
together in 1996, eventually releasing their first album,
Mnant, five years later. If not an easy introduction,
this first album was nevertheless a remarkable effort
both by the impressive sonic range deployed and by the
level of control over the pair’s raw material.
Although making extensive use of industrial sounds,
combined with acoustic and electric instrumentation,
Mnant was surprisingly organic and textured.
With Alms, Ilavsky and Evens continue to explore their
sonic environment, adding more depth and contrast to
an already complex concept. If the post-industrial canvas
serves once again to define the boundaries of Re:’s
playground, this second album reveals a darker, more
obsessive side. Having ditched conventional music forms
for a much looser brief, Re: craft here an extremely
detailed set of sound structures based on field recordings,
filter improvisations and digital processing, with piano,
drums, organs and synthesisers adding some relief to
the compositions. Golem, which opens the album,
provides the first evidence of new developments in the
duo’s experimentations with soundscapes and textures.
As the track slowly progresses from disjointed sound
assemblage to organised chaos, Re: redefine their original
scope, pushing further into abstraction and introducing
the more solemn and sombre atmosphere of this record.
Orientalism As A Humanism continues to delve
deep within the listener’s sub-consciousness through
slow, fuzzy drones and oppressive drumming. Golden
Pond develops from noises that evoke that of loose
objects being transported in wooden crates or people
walking on a footbridge, into a complex collage of restaurant
ambiences, table tennis game, processed conversations
and squealing doors which eventually appear to be organised
into some obscure rhythmic pattern. Radio Free Ramadi
and Lasers, Tracers, Radar Drones appear to
develop from a common idea, based around static noises
and micro-tones, but while the former steps out into
open post-rock grounds for a moment, the latter remains
firmly in the shade at the mercy of the pair’s
intricate filtering. Of the seven compositions presented
here, Pawk is the shorter (three minutes twenty-five)
and most accessible. Based on a melancholic melody played
on the piano, with various sonic disturbances, from
static sounds to animal vocal expressions, crossing
the spectrum, this piece is as intense as the rest of
this record, yet, because of its apparent simplicity,
appears more unsettling. Home Security, which
closes the album, returns to dense industrial soundscapes
on which are pinned shards of vocal elements, saturated
analogue synthesis sounds and found sounds.
With their first album, Ian Ilavsky and Aden Evens defined
landscapes on which to experiment. With Alms,
they develop a variety of new angles to work on similar
environments, refining their approach to sound structure
with aplomb. Yet, it is when they venture into uncharted
territories that this album becomes phenomenally impressive.
As they leave behind the comfort of conquered grounds,
Alms becomes a totally unpredictable, and utterly
rewarding, record.
4.7/5 |
