Cathode Ray Tube keeps up his regular aural explorations and characterizes his most recent work as dark ambient / Deutsche kosmiche, but he also explores a world in which certain audibles have form and others remain formless.
A perplexing auditory experience
Cathode Ray Tube keeps up his regular aural explorations and characterizes his most recent work as dark ambient / Deutsche kosmiche, but he also explores a world in which certain audibles have form and others remain formless. And this is essentially the main theme of The Oryx At Night, which consists of four tracks that run slightly over 30 minutes. It’s recommended that you listen to this experiment loudly in deserted areas like abandoned sports arenas, abandoned municipal buildings, and abandoned military housing (among many other desolate locations listed in the liner notes). But how does this affect those of us outside of these locations who are dialed in via headphones?
The first few notes of “Paerasite” are hardly discernible, but as its microscopic tones, drones, and musique concrète layers build at a louder volume, they traverse familiar paths that fans of Neuro… No Neuro, Bernhard Living, and Alva Noto might relate to with muted space-age and subtle mechanical layers. More tangible elements come together on “Mutation Specialist” as this ten-minute opus eventually reveals a brisk melody formed from blips and bleeps halfway through. But just as we’re able to sense something, “Mutation Specialist” then fades into the night. “Winter Storm,” however, guides us through an almost nine-minute long, majestic-filled ambient soundscape we can get our head around with its synth-infused symmetry. On “Nobody Down,” CRT’s closing track, the prolific experimental sonic sculptor incorporates translucent bass rhythms converging with time-stretched hypnotic drones and atmospheres.
Now, we’re not entirely sure if The Oryx At Night has anything to do with the mammal-like deer that dwells in desert areas of Africa and Arabia, but this EP feels uncomfortably surreal as it carefully descends into silence. Regardless, it’s a perplexing auditory experience that doesn’t wholly feel like a hearing test.
The Oryx At Night is available on Condition Human. [Bandcamp]
