It seems like an eternity since the release of Suchy's third album, Entskidoo,easily one of my favorites from last year. The record felt like thefirst major statement from the German guitarist-turned-laptopper,beautifully representing his skills over two seamless sides, eachteeming with layers of pixilated guitar noise that coalesce to createsomething wholly other. Suchy makes psychedelia for the digital age, aremarkably streamlined combination of hypnotic, half-improvised guitarlines and an equally absorbing array of electronic sounds. His guitartalent is matched only by his ability to integrate it with the rest ofhis often busy, though never confused compositions. The sound ofSuchy?s guitar becomes automated rattle, static drone, windchime, eventhe wind itself, until enjoying it means slipping into a kind of trancestate, swaying at Suchy's whim. Calabi.Yau is less noisy andless colorful than its predecessor but is equally rich in both sonicdensity and hallucinatory power. Suchy keeps plenty of melody at hand,though here it is pushed further from the core of the songs, which relymore on shivering feedback and scattered plucking and tinkering toachieve their desired effects. When melody does enter, it comes with anaura of detachment, a hesitance to make too bold a stroke. Where Entskidoo was like a journey through the tropics or some mutant jungle, Calabiis colder and more spacious. Even "Ka-asam," the disc's most raucouslypsychedelic track, arrives through a background of weightless drones,floating in on choppy waveforms like transmissions of a distantsatellite. The new addition of Stephen Barnickel's percussioncontributes ominous gong-like roars to Suchy's frequently gorgeouspicked sections, and various clatter to the more abstract parts, addingtangible, or at least recognizable touches to the guitarist'sincreasingly bizarre soundscapes. I've always thought it a mystery whySuchy is so rarely grouped among other electronic or experimentalartists using guitars, like Fennesz or Christopher Willits. Though witheach new release, Suchy gives me the easy answer: he operates on acompletely elevated plain. The production value and nuance of thisrecord places it on par with any from the aforementioned musicians, butthe complexity of Suchy's arrangements, the emotional and illusionistdistance covered by each track, remains unmatched.Read More
