Disheveled may not fully encapsulate Miller‘s trajectory here; it’s in the blurred and shattered rhythms, often melancholic but always brimming with energy, where the Pacific Northwest-based musician finds comfort.
Erratic and unpredictable
Solypsis (aka James Miller) pushes proverbial industrial noise electronics to their tipping point via Invisible Ticks, an aptly titled album featuring 13 roughened, broken-beat fissures. Disheveled may not fully encapsulate Miller‘s trajectory here; it’s in the blurred and shattered rhythms, often melancholic but always brimming with energy, where the Pacific Northwest-based musician finds comfort.
Erratic and unpredictable, blips and bleeps twist into all sorts of unusual patterns, with “B Keeper” perhaps best exemplifying Solypsis‘ knack for delivering IDM-inflected tones in unexpected rhythmic formations. Slow-moving but fueled up, his machines seem to take on a life of their own. “Unreal” captures stretched-out tones and downtempo clusters, while “Detriment” carves its own path through ragged, industrial-mechanical techno. Meanwhile, the pummeling distortion of “All Consuming Darkness” shatters any preconceived notions of noise, turning into an illbient-scorched behemoth.
The latter half of Invisible Ticks almost seems to dissolve into the ether, as the cracking breaks of “Rectify” slowly build momentum and turmoil. It’s a satisfying sonic powerhouse that doesn’t let up for a second before closing chapter “Lapdog” dives into atmospheric industrial swaths of data crunching and minimal rhythmic pulses, perhaps hinting at Miller‘s next chapter in low-flying, dub-infested rhythmic tentacles of dust and debris.
Invisible Ticks is available on Component.
