I have to admit that my attempts to decipher the pictorial works that represent or accompany the various time positions on the disc were soon aborted, although as much because I was engrossed in the sounds filtering from the speakers as a lack of interest.
Pieced together meticulously from an infinite array of field recordings, some of which border on insanity (recordings of magnetic fields, insects, bones cracking and snow falling), ‘Untitled Phenomenas in Concrete’ is an obsessive work.
Despite the gentle connotations of the sound of snow falling, the resulting album isn’t friendly or accessible and it’s not easy on the ear: rising from the whirs, clanks, scrapes and buzzes, long-high-pitched whistles drive the eardrums to recoil as they penetrate deep into the grey matter. Interminable frequency assaults like dental drills applied direct to the cranium. It’s all there, down to the kitchen sink (maybe even literally), which is smashed, gong-like to yield a resonant tone that vibrates the skeleton. It’s not all about the volume, though: the frequencies are what really get under the skin and make it crawl. Those quiet fizzes of static that hiss, fuzz and crackle aren’t the sort of thing you’d want to sit down and listen to, but they’re impossible to tune out. It’s not nice, but it is well realised and achieves the composer’s desired effect.
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Francisco Meirino Online
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