I think it is finally safe to say that I do not understand Dominick Fernow at all, as I am completely mystified as to: 1.) why this was released as a Prurient album, and 2.) how it somehow managed to avoid release for two long years (given Fernow's singularly relentless release schedule). Although it was recorded at the same time as 2011's  excellent (but polarizing) Bermuda Drain, Through the Window dispenses with noise almost entirely to indulge a somewhat misguided fascination with house techno.  The result is undeniably more accessible than everything else recorded under the Prurient banner, but accessibility is not what I am generally hoping for with Prurient and these songs are significantly less compelling than Fernow's other dance flirtations with Cold Cave and Vatican Shadow.
I am quite curious about why this album languished in the vault for so long, as it seems entirely possible that it was delayed because Fernow thought the noise world just was not ready for a release like this.  As amusing as that hypothetical thought-process sounds, it is not actually all that far-fetched, as the much harsher Bermuda Drain already raised quite a few noise-purist hackles when it was released–dropping some house beats back then as Prurient probably would have gotten Dominick absolutely pilloried.  Now, of course, the appropriation of dance beats by noise artists is quite commonplace, so no one really cares all that much.  Unfortunately, the rapid evolution of the form that has occurred in the meantime has also served to render Fernow's forward-thinking experiment somewhat dull by comparison.  Or maybe it is actually fundamentally dull, regardless of context.  I am not sure, as my intense loathing of house beats tends to cloud my objectivity.
The common ground between this and other Prurient releases is minimal and tenuous at best, the strongest link being the inexplicable inclusion of 4-minute interlude of piston-like machine rhythm, hissing white noise, and murky spoken-word ("Terracotta Spine") between the album's more dance-oriented bookmarks.  Otherwise, the only real relation to the Prurient of yore is that Fernow occasionally adds some whispered spoken vocals to his coldly alienating, one-man dance party.  The overarching problem is not with the aesthetic though–it is with the execution.
The two substantial pieces that essentially make up the entire album seem to be striving for a shadowy, propulsive "midnight drive" kind of feel, which is just fine by me.  Unfortunately, Fernow's cold, pristine, and ultra-minimal vision badly overreaches the somewhat pedestrian and predictable motifs his songs are built upon.  Both "Through the Window" and "You Show Great Spirit" are essentially just simple minor key synth riffs that are endlessly repeated with a thumping beat for 10 or 20 minutes.  Admittedly, both are quite propulsive, but they are also fairly bombastic and overly repetitive.
It will not surprise me at all if this goes on to become Prurient's most popular release to date (albeit one with a very different audience), but it just feels clumsy, dated, and dilettantish to me: Fernow definitely needs to cultivate a lighter touch if he wants to make dance music this straightforward.  The most frustrating part of it all is that I know Fernow is capable of making great beat-driven music.  In fact, I even like how he gradually builds and morphs the insistent kick drum pulse on these songs.  Unfortunately, Dominick's songwriting and melodic talents are lagging too far behind his rhythmic and textural abilities for this stab at dance music to truly catch fire.  There is still a nagging part of me that suspects that I may just not have found the perfect context in which to experience this album yet (barreling down the Autobahn at 4am in a melancholy mood with a dead prostitute in my trunk?), but my tentative assessment is that Through the Window is merely a well-meaning and unexpectedly listenable misfire.
Samples:
Read More
