What initially began as two 15 minute pieces on their first collaboration is now a sprawling four hour surround sound album. Sonically, the result is consistent with the first two installments, leaning more towards Andrew McKenzie's dark, impenetrable drone than the skittering, fragmented rhythms of Sean Booth and Rob Brown.
The first of the two DVDs included in this package consists of only two untitled pieces.The first of these is a 48-minute track that initially begins with a slow, distant drone that takes its time to stretch out.While over its length it feels static at times, in truth it slowly, but carefully evolves: first into rumbling, bass-heavy passages, then towards shimmering, lighter moments before hitting shrill and painful heights.All the while there is an impressive amount of nuance and variety to be heard.
Eventually tortured violin strings give way to static-laden percussive loops that become more and more the focus until the piece ends with a painfully violent noise stab at the end.The second piece picks up immediately, mixing field recording like expanses and sonic errors.This eventually reached a point in which I for one questioned whether my receiver was breaking down or not, and then it pulls away, focusing the remainder on heavy sub-bass frequencies and distant, expansive ambience.
The second disc consists of a single two hour composition, which, in some ways feels like a further abstraction from the first.At first examination, it sounds like an extremely long passage of filtered white noise, but a closer inspection reveals a lot more going on beneath.Again, the pitch slowly but steadily varies, from moments of sub-woofer shaking rumble to tinnitus like squeals.While the piece feels like the first two combined with more breathing room, it also possesses a digital sheen throughout much of it that feels like the Autechre boys’ influence.
The use of 5.1 surround sound is extremely sparse, filtering elements of the echoing tones to separate channels, but some moments, such as the percussive loop at the end of the first piece, employ a panning effect that goes around the entire room to an excellent effect.
As a fitting continuation in this series, the two discs are packaged lavishly in textured cardstock, with printed art cards and an outside containing folder.I should note a caveat:the discs are authored as standard DVDs (not that bastard DVD-A format), but are PAL encoded.While the visual component is not necessary (the only graphics are a slowly transitioning background, from white to black or black to white, depending on the disc), one of my players refused to play the disc since it was PAL encoded, the other was more accommodating.
This set is anything but casual listening:if the four hour duration wasn't a hint, the menu-less navigation of the discs confirms it.However, the package is a more than fitting third installment in the series of collaborations between Autechre and the Hafler Trio.It takes some time to soak in and once again the release feels more h3o than Ae. It is a fascinating experience.
(due to the multichannel DVD format, no samples available)
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