Lost Myths :: Lost Myths vol. VII (Lotophagus)

All in all, an emotionally intoxicating, bizarre yet alluring ghostly-ambient trip, augmented by dark clouds of noisy elements.

An emotionally intoxicating, bizarre yet alluring ghostly-ambient trip

 

Based in Achères, France, Lotophagus Records is an indie label with a real interest in unusual and captivating music, crossing the paths of radical experimentalism and various researches into sound morphologies and advanced or hand-crafted electronic manipulations. I discovered their catalogue a while ago and, to say the least, it is full of intriguing albums covering a large spectrum of electronic music sub-genres.

I stopped on this new one first for the originality of the concept brought to the fore. The creative motivation of this album lies behind the discovery of a “born to fail” fantasist electro-acoustic instrumentarium with a curious, if not enigmatic, name: Transdimensional Etheric Resonance Phonoscopium. Without entering into the heavily technical description of this machinery, we can see associations with electro-physical instruments and utopian automatic music forged by acousticians and genuinely crazy inventors of the past, such as J. B. Schalkenbach.

The Transdimensional Etheric Resonance Phonoscopium, as suggested by its etymology, seems to combine pseudoscience with metaphysical concerns about aetheric properties of sounds: in brief, a noise-producing machine capable of providing magical effects, surrounded by a surreal-futuristic dimension and appealing electroacoustic fairy-like undulating resonances. It is easy to imagine those charming and Dada-esque musical-technical inventions linked to the fruitful artistic creativity of the early 20th century, notably the challenging and humorous poetical universe of Picabia and, more precisely, the steampunk-before-its-time adventurous imaginary world of Albert Robida.

Lost Myths is almost an anonymous and highly secret project, as is the Transdimensional Etheric Resonance Phonoscopium itself. The album starts with an awe-inspiring ghostly beauty built on altered choir sequences and fuzzed-out, almost static droney emotional phrases with a sense of depth, nostalgia, and rumbling darkness. The following tracks oscillate between chilling abstract electronica for bleak tones, hauntological effects, distorted micro-noises, and anomalous industrial-mechanical accidents. All in all, an emotionally intoxicating, bizarre yet alluring ghostly-ambient trip, augmented by dark clouds of noisy elements. Somewhere between the lo-fi sonic explorations of Modelbau, Pedestrian Deposit, and Cremation Anxiety.

Lost Myths vol. VII is available on Lotophagus. [Bandcamp]