Sustain is a baffling collection maneuvering through the vastness of glitch-space and seamless, cinematic sound design.
Ultra-crunched and decimated
Dennis Bunton (aka Ion Driver) releases a half-dozen tracks on Sustain, his moniker perhaps best describes where he’s taking sound. Ultra-crunched and decimated, “Journey” opens with vacant spaces, dark ambient strands, and subtle emotive shifts sliding gradually into slow-motion broken beats and flickering bass on “Equal Two.” Driving ions into the unknown, “Five by Five” U-turns with carefully orchestrated guitar strings and rhythmic lava flows we simply didn’t expect. And that’s really what makes Sustain such an impressive sonic soup.
It’s quite clear that Bunton fine-tuned his production over the years; the fluidity in which Sustain is able to draw upon is nothing short of astounding. “Lighten Up (Noir VIP)” is one such behemoth where glitch granules slip and slide via minimized tones and downtempo grooves. The ebb and flow is so precisely evolved, oscillating between heavier movements to lighter atmospheric strains as featured on “Suspended (Floating mix),” that Ion Driver leaves us in constant flux. Closing with a dystopian soundtrack and a distant sunset on “The Forge,” Sustain is a baffling collection maneuvering through the vastness of glitch-space and seamless, cinematic sound design. More please.
Sustain is available on Bandcamp.
