A calming buzz of activity, this eponymous extended player traverses a slew of low-frequency tones, drones, and subtle shifts that blend with melodic strands.
Slithering glitch elements and squirming synths
These half-dozen tracks by Justin Rafferty (aka SLTHR) provide just enough slithering glitch elements and squirming synths right from the onset with “Thermal.” A calming buzz of activity, this eponymous extended player traverses a slew of low-frequency tones, drones, and subtle shifts that blend with melodic strands. Have a listen to the second track as a prime example; “Crimson” slips through unlit sonic corridors where faint shadows reveal their chiseled contours, calling us towards its strange clicks and disjointed cuts.
As we dive even further, SLTHR mangles sound spaces by way of unexpected industrial and technoid swaths on “Subsurface,” while “Willow” sheds just enough light via muffled and minimal grooves and fractured vocal bits. The aptly-titled penultimate piece, “Erosion,” does just what you might expect it to—fluttering noises and off-center melodic entanglements burst into hundreds of found sounds and is perhaps the most experimental of the lot. SLTHR closes with unwinding and organic debris of “Hyphae,” a microcosm of ambient slices that feel as if it’s coming to life, delivering branching filaments that make up the mycelium of a fungus.
An all-encapsulating EP that, while seemingly a minimal sojourn, catches our senses and simply doesn’t let go.
SLTHR is available on Heterodox. [Bandcamp]
