One wouldn't expect a disc with pretty pastel shades on the cover to just be so dark and ominous on the inside, but even the gentle female vocals add to this dense, disturbing haze of an album that is difficult to specifically pin down, but its brilliance makes that unnecessary, and what is left has to be one of the most ominous and captivating records I have heard all year
Some combinations seem like a natural fit, and others, on the surface, seem completely absurd.As a kid, I remember a kindergarten snack of apples and cheese one morning sounded absolutely atrocious.However, I gave it a try and, well, it was pretty damn good.
Mixing ethereal female vocals with full on digital noise also sounds, superficially, like a bad fit, but it is not. In fact, it works just as well as the aforementioned childhood snack.The ten tracks across this disc do have that strange combination. The gentle, ethereal vocals of Jenha Wilhelm appear alongside the blasting, shredding electronic sounds of Mark McGee like a lone human in a world of machinery gone mad.In some cases, the tracks transition from a gentle introduction into a harsh ending, like the guitar & vocals that open "Lovers & Liars," which segue into a blasting harsh noise burst that can only be described as the unholy paring of Lush and Wolf Eyes.Though structurally the noise elements are more restrained and less junky than the boys from Michigan, the electronics still manage to evoke the same sense of disorientation, dread, and oppression, but in a more subtle manner.
Others focus less on blasting electronics and more on subtle treatments, like the vaguely IDM rhythms that back the noisy (but less aggressively so) "The Man With The Shovel, Is The Man I'm Going To Marry."There are also moments of pure ambience, like the thick, hazy, drumless space that opens "Very Lovely" before the strong rhythm comes in at the end.Probably the most shocking moment comes in "I Box Twenty," with the mostly conventional, non-electronic backing which, with the overt guitars and bass, almost resembles a more rock focused Portishead.
If there were a single word description that would fit this album, it would be 'textural.'In some cases, the electronic textures are almost so thick as to be tactile and tangible:the noises of "Long Arms" are like jagged rocks enshrouded in soft, thick gauze, a haze of buzz and squeal over a low end distorted crunch.The long titled, but short length "Dedicated Secretary, Liaison, Passionate Mother" is a short instrumental of modem connect tones, and a sense of slow drift, like Pangaea separating to the Earth as we know it today.
The Patron is a disorienting album that reveals more and more layers of itself with subsequent listens, and one of the most exciting discs I have had the pleasure to spin recently.
samples:
Read More
