(06.14.05) Reticulum Flux is a striking record; It explains why the majority of sci-fi movies don’t use sci-fi music, but epic, classical, nu-metal or pseudo electronic music. Reticulum Flux is a movie itself, it doesn’t need any visuals to stimulate your imagination and it will probably feed your darkest, deepest, most anxious fancies with technological noises and sinister ambient movements.
“Trash Compactor” is the longest quarter of an hour you’ll ever experience, listen to it in the dark and you will be probably scared by the idea of being trapped and chopped up by a mangler. “Cybernetic Cataclism” is not very comfortable too, with all those metallic bubblings. Less noise doesn’t mean less tension, beware. Entering the “Windtunnel” will leave you breathless, though it’s only air flowing around your ears. “Breathtank” should give back your breathe but more likely it will send a shiver down your spine. If you liked Devine’s Aleamapper, you’ll love this, it’s even more focused on sound design, and instead of sounding utterly alien, Reticulum Flux is unsettling because of its realistic soundscapes. It’s not all design and totally beatless though, “Centered Within Chaos” features the shadow of a straight, pulsating rhythm, it’s like a sparkling, ultra-processed version of Basic Channel. More distant echoes float in the final track, “Weightless,” that softly ends the fascinating journey of Reticulum Flux. This album took a while to be released, I hope in the meantime Shapeshifter recorded more material, because I’m addicted to these sounds.
Reticulum Flux is out now on Schematic.
