CLOUDLAND CANYON
Silver Tongued Sisyphus
KRANK111
Kranky 2007
02 Tracks. 23mins35secs

At twenty-three minutes, this EP from Cloudland Canyon is a tight, concentrated workout for freeform percussion, guitar and woozy ambient washes that pull at the listener’s nerve endings. All of the segments of which these works consist are ingeniously sequenced together, taking full advantage of each moment of contrast or continuity. The opening piece is defined by layers of telegraphic bleeps slipping and sliding over each other, to the accompaniment of distant, contorted percussive crashes, and heavy, reverberating guitar figures. With these elements established, rather than adding or subtracting elements, the duo stir and stroke the surface, rippling it with curls, points, and slashes of sound, or thickening the sound pool through rhapsodic looping. By the closure of the first composition, a fine array of sound has already been erected and explored through a constantly shifting surge.

The second track begins with another dream sequence of icy keyboards and flickering electronic particles, yet it soon dovetails into a queasy blend of echoing guitar and zither patterns that are more alarming than exploratory. The fractured instrumentation enables the pair to tune into a scattered beat of madness, joy, and sheer bedlam, but at the same time, it also reveals their influences in a more overt, and thus unappealing, manner. During these sections, the two opt for blurring and fusing, and in so doing, stray from the challenges posed by the distinct and singular aspects of the opening piece, the very aspects which, for the most part, make this EP an intriguing event rather than simply another backdrop for one’s bliss-out.

3/5

Cloudland Canyon | Kranky
Buy: CD | iTunes