Everything on this release is easy to put on again and again, with so much going on it’s virtually impossible to take it all in during one sitting. Careful which track you choose to repeat though as you could easily lose your week to this one.
Twisted in all the right ways
Well, I hope you’ve all had a quiet and boring week—so quiet that you’re just begging for something to come and shatter the boredom. As someone wise once said (probably), be careful what you wish for, as what you’re going to get is two discs full of sonic bombardment from one of my favorite recent artists—exm (aka Jeroen Bax).
comp wastes no timeline tearing up the silence; “ToFrost” dispensing a somehow fast yet slow-paced introduction to the next two hours of your life; lovers of Jon Hopkins and Lone rejoice will rejoice in its melodic yet simple beauty. A couple of gems that fans may recognize the first of which, “Autumn Is Coming” (previously appearing in 2019 on a Murya/exm split on Móatún 7) is twisted in all the right ways. A confident piano lead, prepared à la Cage carries it through to its haunting conclusion.
Another taken from Dyadik’s Adykt compilation, “Kolder” lies heavy on my mind—liberal reverb and distance applied it leaves me waiting for something that never appears. I’m not quite sure what to expect next and my imagination has been led well and truly astray. The odd beginnings of “Optisc” that carry through, provide a solid halfway point in what is just over two hours of music. You might be thinking that’s quite a lot for a single release especially if it’s not a compilation, but that’s very much to our advantage here.
Any followers of exm will be familiar with the inclusion of longer pieces, more often than not concluding in vast-difference to how they commenced, and it’s these that are the true time-sinks.
I call these casino tracks—if these were buildings they would have no windows, lest we grant sunlight to visitors and have them realize what time of day it is. They ply you with continual free drinks (or in this case, interesting new auditory snippets), further drawing you in. At the end of it all you’ve expended your resources, discarded into the dusty streets to question what it is you’ve just done and who you are. “redSquare” is one of these; a truly dramatic pulsing piece perfect for walking, followed by another with “Depth Light (ext)”—one long steady fifteen minute contortion culminating in a lush haze. Arguably you’d be prepared for anything after these, but I was so wrong.
Completely hypnotic and wildly disorientating ::
It is “Patterns A” that embodies the best example of a long track I’ve heard in a long, long time, and I think you’ll agree. It’s like watching the evolutionary development of some primordial soup, seeing all of its follies along the way until the last specimen of a species dies out and joins the background noise of the universe—completely hypnotic and wildly disorientating. Escapism at its best.
I thank the immediate appearance of “4W” giving me a well-needed slap in the face, and bringing me back from the trance (no, not that trance), something more grounded and balanced that just about lowers my heart rate before it’s all over—well, not quite, as we’re also treated to a Yage remix of “Depth Light” thrown in to finalize the proceedings.
Everything on this release is easy to put on again and again, with so much going on it’s virtually impossible to take it all in during one sitting. Careful which track you choose to repeat though as you could easily lose your week to this one. This release is for a better phrase—solid AF.
comp is available on Dyadik. [Bandcamp]
