This is tense. It’s also simmeringly intense. Twitters of treble flit and flutter over dark sonorous drones, occasionally swelling to stormy rumbles of a brewing storm. Lengthy passages of near-silence, through which trace fine threads of high-frequency tone almost imperceptibly build into scrapes of feedback and notes that resonate and fade. Erratic rhythms bleep and stutter and penetrate the senses, scratch and burst. Chimes and high hums click and stab. It’s quite uncomfortable at times.
It’s also worth noting this was mastered by the legendary Denis Blackham, who officially retired in May of this year: during his 40-plus year career, having handled works by the likes of Merzbow and Whitehouse, Pan Sonic and Mika Vainio, as well as countless other Touch releases, he’s sensitive and adept when it comes to material like this.
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The crackles and ops, the tweets and scrapes may be pure analogue, produced using Serge Analogue Modular Synthesisers and a contact mic, but they’re audible with clinical clarity. This sonic contrast contributes greatly to the effect of ‘Figueroa Terrace’.
Thomas Ankersmit Online
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