As a collaboration between Telescopes founder/consistent member Stephen Lawrie and Vibracathedral Orchestra's Bridget Hayden, it bares little direct resemblance to the former's past work in rock oriented shoegaze and the latter's drone soundscapes. Instead it is a chaotic noise infused work that could shred the speakers with the best of them. Closer inspection, however, reveals that at the core, both artists show their pedigree, and that's what sets this apart from other similar records.
Recorded in a room supposedly used by a psychic medium, the sessions were specifically recorded via environmental microphones, with the volumes set to the max. Undoubtedly this is what gives the record its raw distortion that, due to its dynamic noise quality that simply cannot be created via digital technology. While this sheen of noise covers almost every track, it doesn’t fully obscure the underlying performance and instrumentation. The opening track, "Static Charge," features a clatter that could be a metal shop, but is more likely a guitar track that has been amplified to the point of full distortion. It has a rhythmic sense to it (something many projects this close to the noise spectrum seem to forget), but is obviously due to playing, not looping. As the track wears on the gain is turned up to the point that full clipping is achieved, as sound starts getting cut out from the mix.
In some situations the noise is the dominant theme: “Thought Loops” starts out a bit less aggressive, but by the middle what sounds like a buzzsaw cuts into the mix and demands attention, and the track only becomes more harsh and chaotic from there. The closing “Chrome Gulls” also follows on this path to harsh noise-dom, with its unadulterated feedback and metallic high end ringing, which even though it has a more tense vibe than any other piece on here, eventually gives way to some treated, vast ambience at the end.
Others are less apt to focus on the noise and more on the underlying melodies that are obfuscated amongst the grime. “Northumberland” opens on a more melodic note and some melody is immediately apparent, even if the sound is that of a string quartet playing in the deepest depths of hell. “Tidal Bandwidth” is another track that is based around oversaturated tape recordings, but there’s a deeper, almost synth like pulse that gives a more melodic propensity.
A difficult album to pin down, because it does feature elements of dissonance, but those are equally met by subtle melodic parts that could be easily ignored. For all its harshness, it is a complex album that is worth exploring the layers of.
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