(03.08.05) Known for his noise assaults as Converter, Scott Sturgis has opted for something a little different with In A Haze. Composed as an aural experiment, the six tracks of his first record released under his own name were performed live back in 2004 at a club in Seattle, WA, where Sturgis put aside the flesh-rending power electronics and
rhythmic noise of Converter for something a bit more laid-back. Clearly intended to be heard as a singular experience, In A Haze flows from ambient psychedelia to tribal rhythms to industrial-inflected downtempo beats to aural soundtracks for lost motion pictures.
Sturgic combines the textured collage approach of Iron Halo Device’s The Collapsing Void and the thick rhythmic sensibilities which pervaded Dr. Walker and Holger Czukay’s Clash (their 2CD live collaboration), building tracks that twist and move of their own volition as if he were performing a high-wire act wrestling sonic monsters. “Down” churns and rubbles with rhythm, a heavy downtempo song as if the Viking Metal-ists decided to compose ambient slow dance music one afternoon. Processed whale moans fill the room while a distorted wooden flute sings over a punchy beat structure in “Tomorrow,” making music for a South Seas cargo cult sacrificial ritual. “Euphondisson” warbles and groans like an elastic loop of woodwind melody over a polyrhythmic bed of tiny glitch bubbles and live percussion, building a precisely layered hymn to the approach of dawn. Like a good deal of live performances by solo artists, the construction and evolution of “Euphondisson” happens in strata, layers of sound laid down over previous loops until a piece of complex sonic architecture is assembled. It makes for fascinating listening.
It was a short performance that night—just over thirty minutes—but by preserving it on CD, Sturgis has made it easy to enjoy his experimental work over and over again. In A Haze shows off his softer side, and there is nothing like multi-dimensionality to make an artist more interesting. I hope he found this experiment successful and does more of them in the future.
In A Haze is out now on Positron Records.
