Paul Vakana :: SB4 EP (Citylinks)

Not a simple translation of light into sound, nor an allegory, SB4 makes and transcends its own rules (as well as minimalist and drone music’s, for that matter), resulting in a rare natural wonder, deceptive in its simplicity but cosmic just under the surface.

Imploding in pure light, in static fullness

After their previous EP Deux Rayons, Paul Vakana returns on Citylinks with SB4, continuing an exploration of minimalism and drone. If the two minimal compositions in ‘Deux Rayons’ successfully honed in on the potential of processed cello to develop textural, deeply rich sustained chords over extended crescendos, the two pieces in SB4 initially deconstruct their harmonic material in modular synth arpeggios of four tones that shift irregularly, with their notes interacting in always different ways. Over time, however, the tones dilate, overlap and merge, with their decay failing to fully close the single notes’ resonance, until in the second half of each track a drone emerges – first restlessly, then imploding in pure light, in static fullness.

The title of the EP and compositions hint at this structure. In astronomy, the acronym SB4 (Quadruple-lined Spectroscopic Binaries) refers to rare stellar systems composed of four gravitationally bound stars, often made up of two closely orbiting pairs: the Epsilon Lyrae (also known as the “Double Double” and one of the most observable multiple star systems) and the AO Velorum are two examples of this, and their stars partake in a dance, revolving in relation to each other around a single center of gravity. The airy, bright timbres of the modular synthesizer lend themselves perfectly to transpose these spiraling lights into sound. The four tones are captured in their interaction, firstly in detail, and then from further and further away, falling out of focus until they can only be perceived as a single blur of light suspended in a vacuum, a climax that is at first blinding and then more and more distant, until the sounds fade into darkness.

If the two pieces are strong in their own musical right – with their implied thirteenth chords giving every rotation of the harmonic system a striking and constantly shifting tension and ambiguous emotional load – their conceptual background lends them even more imaginative potential. Not a simple translation of light into sound, nor an allegory, SB4 makes and transcends its own rules (as well as minimalist and drone music’s, for that matter), resulting in a rare natural wonder, deceptive in its simplicity but cosmic just under the surface.

SB4 is available on Citylinks. [Bandcamp]