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COH, "Above Air"
Ivan Pavlov’s new album evokes the feeling of flying. Above Air is an apt title for this release. The music here sounds like it could almost be recordings of stratosphere. There is a vast spaciousness in the music that I haven’t detected before in Pavlov’s work. It is reminiscent of Coil’s work as ELpH, it is not quite of this world but not quite alien either.
Eskaton
“BetweenHeaven and Earth” starts off with bell-like noises that have a tinnitusquality about them. Before long the piece opens up with glitchy beatsand voices from the ether swimming in. “Dancing in Silence” sounds likea flock of colorless birds in migration. The crass use of similecannot convey how magical this music sounds. The way Pavlov sculpturessound is masterful. He has dropped the more cluttered style that he hasemployed on previous releases; Above Air is much more minimal withlong sections of soft noise relieved by spits of sound.
My description of the music may make it sound like it’s all ambient soundscapes but most of the time it is very rhythmic. “Lungs Leak a Lullaby” builds up from intermittent blips and drones to what becomes the closest thing to a melody on the album. It’s too bad it’s so short as it could have progressed into something really danceable. Instead it breaks down and “I Smile I Know” takes over. The pace is slowed considerably as a popping sound repeats every few seconds. The shift in speed and sound brings me back to the previous stratospheric statements, it’s like being caught in an updraft or coming out of cloud into a blue sky. The album finishes with the turbulent “Beneath my Sun-Proof Eyelids Truth Never Sleeps” which seems to tie together all the sounds and feelings of the preceding tracks.
Above Air is the most enjoyable COH album I’ve heard. It retains the distinctive style of Pavlov’s previous releases but there’s a new element to the sound. It sounds less restricted, it still has the playfulness that I’ve always liked in his music, there’s a new freedom that makes this album remarkable.
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