Lots ofdrumming and percussive electronics with a soothing, nocturnal feel.Some glitchy electronics rear their head near the end of the firstpiece along with a soothing wash of keyboard harmony, all done toexcellent effect. I could do without the processed vocal but that'sjust my onus to bear. The second offering, 'Friction' has the samenocturnal feel but more somnambulant with echoed guitar, distortedpiano and tones stretched to the breaking point. Parts of this remindedme of the earlier works of Current 93 and then it would shift to almostEno-esque and then again to parts that sounded like Can while stillbeing wholly original.Ashfordaisyak doesn't quite jibe as well in my opinion. The startingtrack 'Refugees' has all the usual clichés; distorted, delayed,clanking, walkie talkie vocals and screams pitch shifting into theupper registers - all told a rather pale Whitehouse imitation althoughthe tune is somewhat redeemed by the inclusion of cheesy electro-styledrums in the middle. The other two tracks don't fare much better - 'I'mPregnant' sounds to me like early sampler and tape loop experiments andthe final track 'Where do Balloons Go When They Die' has a 'pots andpans industrial' feel - lots of tinny metal clanking and ominousvocals. A good effort and some potential here, it just needs refining.
All told, the disc is worth the price for the Arc tracks especially forfans of the aforementioned C93, 23 Skidoo or even earlier, instrumentalCoil. Here's hoping we see more from both of these artists. -(Menschenfeind Productions - http://www.menschenfeind.com)
