Tense Surfaces is an active departure from the glacial movement of Baker’s earlier work that I am familiar with and is a very delightful surprise. (June 2005 remastered review).
Tiny bursts of electronic detritus scatter across the landscape
Aidan Baker builds tracks out of guitar tones and, usually, his work is much more ambient and long drone based. He’s still got the proper distance perspective on Tense Surfaces but there is a percolating, shuffling loop in the foreground that keeps the tracks fluid and in motion. “Eyes Are Dark &” flows like dark water, undulating endlessly past you, while “Encase / Enclose Me” opens with the sound of a first year student’s piano recital being held underwater. Tiny bursts of electronic detritus scatter across the landscape of muffled and marred notes. The final section of Tense Surfaces is the thirteen minute “I Wish Too, To Be Absorbed” and Baker’s lo-fi ambience whispers of wind through old metal tubes and distant coyote calls in the desert darkness. Breathes of glitch like meteor showers streak across your speakers, slicing the drifting loop of Baker’s dusty ambience with streaks of falling noise. Tense Surfaces is an active departure from the glacial movement of Baker’s earlier work that I am familiar with and is a very delightful surprise.
Credits ::
Composed, performed, and recorded in 2004 by Aidan Baker
Remastered in 2023 by Aidan Baker
Tense Surfaces is available on Panospria. [Bandcamp | Site]
Original review published June 2005 ::
