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Snawklor, "It Would Have Lived Here"

Synaesthesia
Subtlety can either add to a composition or take away from it. Ifunderstatement is enough to carry a tune then there's no reason to addanything to it. It Would Have Lived Hereis a very careful album and ends up benefitting for it. Everything isbare bones and this approach works very well. Most of the tones usedare metallic in nature and percussive but more often than not there areless musical and more found-sound effects used. Everything beginsrather enigmatically: there is rhythm, but it heeds to no timesignature. There is a bass-like strumming throughout and the sound oftiny cymbals chiming everywhere, but no melody to speak of. Randomsounds bounce back and forth between my ears and now and again there'sa quick stab of recognizable speech but it's distant. Metallic soundsrun throughout this full-length but in different forms. Some are usedto create short melodic lines, others produce a constant backgroundnoise that ties the various tracks together in different ways, andothers simply pop in and out of the music like images of killing yourboss during a hectic day of work. Nothing ever jumps out and grabs myattention immediately. Every moment is saturated with interestingsounds that stretch, echo, and breathe without interference. The sensethat the sounds are somehow coming from a living, breathing thing isstrong and a bit unsettling at times. Snawklor obviously pay closeattention to detail and the result of their patience is nothing shortof beautiful. Despite its rather abstract nature it is highlyaccessible and fun to listen to.

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