Yasumi Okano (25) and Takayuki Souji (27) have just
released the most puzzling and intriguing records in
recent years. The duo emerged at the end of last year
with the 7” teaser All You Need Is Love Was Not
True. Tomorrow Never Comes, released through
Fat Cat’s offshoot label Splinter Series, promises to
tear apart both the rock establishment and the padded
confinements of IDM.
Intense, atmospheric, violent, and disturbing, Tomorrow
Never Comes is all of this at once. Xinlisupreme’s
guitar-based soundtracks are unconventional by all means.
Imagine My Bloody Valentine taking on death metal, imagine
Sigur Rós
in the middle of a nervous breakdown, imagine Kid606
throwing his machines out of his pram, and you are still
not anywhere near ready for what Xinlisupreme have laid
down on tapes. Behind the maelstrom of raw guitar feedback
tearing up sequenced loops and found sounds, the duo
creates an authentically unique universe. Rarely a record
has reached such uncompromising perversion. Ranging
from sheer aggression (Kyoro) to schizophrenic
chaos (Goodbye For All) and from hallucinogenic
dream pop (All You Need Is Love Was Not True
and the absolutely sublime Fatal Sisters Opened
Umbrella) to arid minimalism (Nameless Song),
Xinlisupreme’s deconstructed soundscapes transcend the
very meaning of musical forms to depict an apocalyptic
vision of sound through impressive layers of noise and
scarce basic beat structures. At times, the pair swap
their mutant frivolity for more conform atmospheres,
where intricate structures are exposed more clearly
(Suzu, You Died In The Sea) and even
reveal some almost intelligible words (Amaryllis),
but this never lasts for long, and the band soon return
to their enormous sound with delight. But, despite the
noise-ism and the violence displayed, Tomorrow Never
Comes remains before all an intensely atmospheric
records, of the sort that requires to be listened to
from the first to the last measure to capture the essence
of its nature. If the twelve tracks exhibit strong elements
of individuality, they work best in the context of the
entire work, as they seem to gain strength and power
from each other.
Xinlisupreme have created with Tomorrow Never Comes
a truly magnificent record, fuelled by its own perverse
abstraction and complexity. Impressive in many respects,
this album is above all persistently beautiful and utterly
dramatic.
5/5 |
