Otero Vargas :: Last Drives (Facade Electronics)

Overall, Last Drives is an intriguing, ominous voyage through sounds and moods. Each piece maintains momentum and is unquestionably worth the time to absorb, and perhaps return to time and time again.

An interesting, dark atmospheric aural experience

Otero Vargas’ Last Drives is composed of two fifteen minute tracks labelled “IDE side” and “SATA side.” The tracks share similar sonic elements and I wondered if the release was composed using coded techniques. Either way, Last Drives provides an interesting, dark atmospheric aural experience.

The “SATA side” opens with smooth drifts, mindful of a beach on a synthetic ocean. Oscillating drones are added, and held in harmonic chords. Soon we can perceive many layers of harmonic drones, a tighter oscillating drone, recordings of various bells and dings, and a white noise sound. Plinks and plonks are added to the discordant bell sounds at around the 4:00 mark. Many microtonal blips and noises form an organic rhythmic pattern, that resembles a moderate rain. The “SATA Side” fades to near silence, and recommences, with deep, sawtooth drones, and more plinks and plonks. Tones of drone sounds float chromatically into a foggy, drifty ambience as similarly-toned string pads are added and the piece fades in volume a bit. At 9:30, a piano melody emerges from the quiet. It sounds like it was played by a child, with elemental high notes. The piano portion is interwoven with a sawtooth drone that gradually fades in. A few electronic bass tones, as well as plinks and plonks, come into focus at 11:20. Drone spheres and a dense, warm noise bed can be heard deep in the background while dense pads continue, combining in musical ways, sounding warm and melodic as a series of lower register tones are played. A sense of drama moves the track towards to its conclusion, with substantially oscillating pads, louder sounds, various washes, and, while fading out, metal taps and drones.

The “IDE Side” opens with familiar plinks and plonks, and similar glitchy sounds. Dub bass tones come in, and give the piece a sense of “walking.” Pale pads combine in melodic fashion, together with washes of white noise. The melodies are dark, abstract, and possibly generative or coded. 3:00 in, and a tonal pulse begins, composed of a synched, mid-to-high-pitched tones, mixed over oscillating, noisy atmospherics. Filtered, shimmery pads come in, and an outtake that sounds like dolphins playing begins, as the various pads call back and forth to one another. Certain pitched drones begin to stand out as prominent and at 5:30, dark ambience begins, as everything else fades. At 8:45, various white noises and glitches fade in, and at 9:15 a more serene drone section begins. Like waves on the surf, tonal pad notes wash in like muffled bells tolling. At 11:40, the original bass returns along with the odd short pad notes, and the ebb and flow shifts and interacts in terms of pitch. Increasingly, there are glitchy noises that sound like a mechanical failure. The glitchy echoes of the skipping sounds fade in. The song ends with piano notes interacting with waves of aquatic white noise before everything fades into a sea of deep static.

Overall, Last Drives is an intriguing, ominous voyage through sounds and moods. Each piece maintains momentum and is unquestionably worth the time to absorb, and perhaps return to time and time again.

Last Drives is available on Facade Electronics. [Bandcamp]