This second installment sees Kolf balancing sound and silence, the perceived with that which cannot be. Threats are created, palpable almost tactile ones, but then erased in a puff of smoke or a scourge of synth.
2014 has been a quiet year for Testtoon Records. After a flurry of activity in 2013 the Belgian label has been hibernating on the releasing front. But, (father!) the sleeper has awoken. Early last year fellow Belgian, Oubys aka Wannes Kolf, offered up his superbly deep SQM Part I. Now it’s time to dive again beneath those analogue waves for Part II.
Those aquatic motifs of SQM I are briefly revisited. “Resurrection” stretches into life. String scale and circuitry crackles. A soft and yielding sound pours, liquid glitch ossifying into a cascading stream of clacking marbles. I commented that SQM I had an “organic seam” running through it, SQM II is quite a different beast. The terrestrial has been left behind, with vacuum and void being under magnifying, or refracting, glass. “Dark Star” almost roars with its gravity. Exceptionally menacing chords orbit, disappearing into expansive radio silence before re-entering with ever greater weight. The listener is supplanted, isolated in the world of Oubys. Coldness and solitude pervade pieces like “Restless” and “Siratori.” The album never returns to the solidity of “Resurrection,” instead sounds become ever more retracted as an eerie calmness consumes.
SQM II picks up where its predecessor left off. This second installment sees Kolf balancing sound and silence, the perceived with that which cannot be. Threats are created, palpable almost tactile ones, but then erased in a puff of smoke or a scourge of synth. The listener is sunk into a space constructed by Oubys, one of stretching shadows and superseding stillness.
SQM II is available on Testtoon. [Bandcamp]
