(04.24.05) With Scott Herren (a.k.a. Prefuse 73) providing the musical backdrop and a whole host of collaborators providing vocal accompaniment, Surrounded By Silence covers a wide range of musical styles from hip-hop, contemporary, R&B, country, funky jazz and orchestral. Amongst the vocalists providing assistance include Ghostface & EL-P, The Books, Kazu from Blonde Redhead, Aesop Rock, Masta Killa, GZA, Claudia & Alejandra Dehaza and more.
What provides the common thread to tie these diverse styles together is Herren’s experimental treatment of each musical style represented, cutting it up, reinventing it, adding bassy breaks and samples to completely rewrite musical boundaries. Throwing in hip-hop samples throughout, Surrounded By Silence presents an initially bewildering array of musical styles patched together in a frantic collage of sound. “We Go Our Own Way” featuring Kamu (Blonde Redhead) is particularly memorable for her silky seductive and quite unique vocal delivery along with tense, vaguely ethnic, jazzy breaks. Although representing a completely different genre, “Sabbatical With Options” featuring hip-hop talent Aesop Rock is equally good with Rock’s rant about needing to get out of the city set to slick hip-hop beats and an acoustic guitar backing. With “Just the Thought,” jabbing breaks and computer game blips sit alongside hip-hop verses from Masta Killa and GZA. On the other end of the scale is “Pastel Assassins” featuring the ethereal vocal talents of Claudia & Alejandra Dehaza providing a dreamy contemporary approach over Herren’s low-key jittery backing. Then there is “Pagina Dos” that manages to successfully pull off a fusion of hip-hop, breaks and country banjo. Although very eclectic in influence Surrounded By Silence has a consistent hip-hop theme throughout that provides some cohesion and brings the album together nicely.
A diverse sonic collage based on an experimental hip-hop theme that remains an interesting experiment in the fusion of vastly different musical genres. By no means a novelty album or exploitation of bootleg mix culture but an original exploration in sound manipulation that withstands multiple listens.
Surrounded By Silence is out now on Warp.
