(07.15.05) Benn Jordan’s work as The Flashbulb hits like a power surge, driving
electricity in fits and spikes into a bulb. His latest release,
Kirlian Selections, offers 28 tracks in just over an hour — a
dizzying diversity of ideas and styles that emerges as a cohesive
whole from the chaotic stutter of the wild electrons. Kirlian
photography (discovered in 1939 by Semyon Kirlian) captures the “aura”
surrounding objects that have been subjected to a strong electric
pulse and, like the sensational possibilities of such photography
(purported to be capturing the soul or astral body of the object),
Jordan’s Kirlian Selections captures a sparking and dancing
current around ambient, classical and cinematic pieces.
“Passage D,” ostensibly a piano concertina, is transformed by a
staggered and arcing breakbeat rhythm that shivers and drives the
piano melody. The piano song in “Mellann” is obscured by squelchy
beats that turn the piano recital into an Aphex Twin show while
“Lifeless Indoors” is rendered melancholic by the whispered presence
of field recordings ghosting in the distance. “Dishevel” is a
Venetian Snares train ride into the switching yard, all blowers on.
And then “My Life of Loving Ghosts” is a haunted stroll through the
old graveyard behind the rotting church where the spectral bells from
a century ago still ring and there is a hint of wind chimes remaining
in the air. While it is easy to name-check Aphex Twin and Venetian
Snares (as well as Squarepusher for that matter), there is equal
reason to talk about Erik Satie and his Gymnopédies, since
Jordan blissfully merges both into the same space and finds ways to
wrap spastic breakbeats around the delicate piano arrangements.
“Lawn Wake IX” eschews the piano for an electric guitar and gyrates
like a Steve Vai collaboration with Boards of Canada while “Kirlian
Isles I” plies a solo violin against an orchestra and a field
recording of babbling human voices. “Kirlian Isles II” remixes the
melodic idea of “Kirlian Isles I” into synthesized rendition,
squelches of DSP churning under an orchestral rendering of the solo
violin melody, and “Kirlian Isles III” places the violinist under a
fruit tree with an acoustic guitarist and an appreciative audience of
small song birds. I’m telling you: you can’t begin to keep up with
Jordan. He’s got too many places to go and ideas to throw at you to
be tied down by the numbing repetition of verse and chorus. The
Flashbulb is all about blinking on and off — always changing, always
in a state of flux.
But it is how he achieves this amalgamation of chaotic beats and
orchestral melodies that lends a delicate gravitas to epileptic
beat-mashing while the cacophonic polyrhythms enhance the dry
recital-hall feeling of the symphonic material. It’s the very
spontaneity of his approach that makes him so compellingly
fascinating. Kirlian Selections is an impressive and highly
recommended record.
Kirlian Selections is out now on Sublight.
