Hinting at industrial, glitch, IDM, clicks, and disjointed cuts wrapped around technoid structures, it’s so jam-packed, that it’s a challenge to unfold each layer; this is a good thing.
Mechanically-enriched rhythms
Precenphix (aka Ben Rabenold) has taken us by surprise. Off-Axis delivers, and delivers in a hurry. With a darker, esoteric tinge, the album’s 14 tracks exhaust with sparks flying at all angles. Hinting at industrial, glitch, IDM, clicks, and disjointed cuts wrapped around technoid structures, it’s so jam-packed, that it’s a challenge to unfold each layer; this is a good thing.
Off-Axis tempers itself by tranquilized dark ambient ice sheets, but more often than not, its hardened exterior shell is tough to crack. The raw power, analog structures, and synth strands are at times subdued and channeled, while at other moments surrounded by surreal vocal treatments (courtesy of Nicolette Hope) providing just enough gothic veils that run a parallel trajectory to artists like Android Lust and :Wumscut:, to more IDM-centric, post-industrial, and modular-synth sculpting acts like Richard Devine, Daniel Avery, Download, and Xanopticon. While Precenphix comes across a little more restrained than the above mentioned artists on Off-Axis, don’t let the comparison distract from the artists’ unique audio assault.
Such a mixture of eerie blips and bleeps (ref. “Postdrome” and “Blot”) provide just the right amount of fluctuation to keep us at ease, while tracks like “Lost,” “Fenced In,” “Triptan,” and “Kavalactones” soothe the soul with spaced-out and mysterious synth extractions. “In The Courtyard” kicks the industrial element up several notches without overdoing it—subtle yet persistent glitch bits are tangled around lively pulsing drums.
Off-Axis‘ mechanically-enriched rhythms drives home the message coincidentally with “Home,” with its slithering soundtrack and hypnotic flow. It’s an album that we’ll continue to visit and still find new sonic terrain. We recently turned our ears to Precenphix’s previous and expertly crafted dark electronic releases including False Season and The Winter—not to be missed.
Off-Axis is available on Not Yet Remembered. [Bandcamp]
