Zero Eight pulls off a rather satisfying mix of noise, ambient, and experimental electronica. The way the record is constantly shifting into new ideas makes it really engaging from front to back, but so does its claustrophobic atmosphere.
A sweet spot between sounding all glitchy and almost ethereal
Zero Eight creates one lengthy, immersive piece with its ten distinct movements. While it does play as one continuous piece, its ten tracks do mark significant switches throughout its course, as each seems to be peeling away something from the previous part, while also adding something new of its very own. This makes Zero Eight a constantly morphing piece, one that does so really smoothly and gradually, never letting go of your attention—or, at least the attention of those who do care for the minute changes happening. And, truth be told, minute may be a bit of an understatement, because while there’s never a truly strong entrance of a new component, the sound shifts significantly from track one to five, it’s just that it happens so gradually that you may not truly feel it until you start asking yourself if that’s what the piece sounded like at the beginning.
Said beginning is very much impactful, as it opens up the LP in truly noisy fashion. The noise grows louder and louder, overwhelming all the pretty bleeps and bloops underneath it; from almost nothing, the track goes into sounding like the nastiest vacuum cleaner you could possibly buy, with the exception that it’s pleasing here unlike it’d be if you wanted to clean your house. I’m really fond of this noise, I think it nails a sweet spot between sounding all glitchy and almost ethereal, creating a really satisfying opening overall.
“Zero Eight Two” is where some melodic elements are introduced, still very much not smooth, but they do ease the initial noise quite a bit. Said melodies seem to be stuttering at times, not skipping or glitching out, but they almost struggle to establish themselves in the chaos that is still going on. None of it is to be thought of as excessive or harsh though, it’s actually quite intriguing how serene it all comes off as in the end. And as this track and its followers continue, the atmosphere gets more and more laid back, smoother even.
Stuttering intensely ::
Parts three and four amp things up with some strong percussion, especially with the really aggressive and fast bursts of kicks, this time adding something that’s actually stuttering intensely. The beats aren’t even proper beats, there’s no interest in establishing a sense of groove, quite the opposite, if anything; there’s even lots of really dry and sharp thuds, all as chaotic as the kick patterns are, making these two parts the most discomforting.
“Zero Eight Four” does also begin to ease things up, as this part is where the noise starts fading away, leaving a much less clustered soundscape overall. There is still the tension given by the percussion, but this is when things really start to open up and become a lot more spacious. By the end of part four, even the kicks have quieted down, leaving echoed synthesizers to do their job. This constant, smooth development never ceases throughout the whole record, but it is noteworthy to point out the moments that stick out the most, because this change in “Zero Eight Four” is the biggest and most noticeable; from a chaotic and noisy atmosphere, you’ve now reached a true moment of peace, which extends itself greatly throughout part five.
Speaking of, I like how the central piece is like a big moment of rest, or satisfaction too. Part five doesn’t really venture far away from its ambience, but after so much intensity and noise, it is certainly the moment to enjoy some. I also have to say it is really really good ambient, I really like how spacious it sounds, it doesn’t seem to be trying to convey a gigantic open soundscape of sorts, rather it’s as if everything was echoing in a huge room, still giving that sense of magnitude but also keeping it tied to the album’s overall tight feel. This continues into part six, which gets a bit darker at points, bringing in a lot of scattered textures that only appear briefly.
“It’s as if everything was echoing in a huge room, still giving that sense of magnitude but also keeping it tied to the album’s overall tight feel.” ~Benci
This is the direction that the entire second half of the album goes into, as it is slowly stepping back where it originally began. There’s more emphasis on noise slowly growing back, discomofrting textures like the buzzing bass of “Zero Eight Seven,” and even the bleeps that gave a bit color at the beginning make a comeback, though they’re far more noticeable here and they’re also quite a lot less active. Mind you, the way the album goes back into a similar style isn’t just by mirroring its first half, even the bleeps I mentioned are different from what you’d heard previously, so the record is still creating new atmospheres, even if they are familiar. It doesn’t do quite as well as it did initially, as the last three tracks especially seem to be just dying out slowly, without ever really trying to bring in a new interesting idea and going into a direction that may be too linear to be as engaging as the rest.
Either way, Zero Eight pulls off a rather satisfying mix of noise, ambient, and experimental electronica. The way the record is constantly shifting into new ideas makes it really engaging from front to back, but so does its claustrophobic atmosphere. Even if not every moment ends up impressing, this is a record you’re more likely to enjoy by fully diving into it either way, so might as well take it all at once and sail into this mad digital sea.
Zero Eight is available on Tygr Rawwk Rcrds. [Bandcamp]
