We all know the saying ‘less is more’, the idea that too much detail spoils the essence of something, which is a generalisation born of a society bulging with excess. If you open your eyes beyond our hedonistic Western indulgence it’s obvious that just as often, more is more and less is less. So it is with this third release, ‘Infinity‘ from ///, or Parallel Lines, who deliver another record of undeniably magnificent noise. It’s easy on first glance to assume that music like this is minimalist and takes its strength from stripping away all but the barest of sounds. Listen closely, and it doesn’t take long to realise that in reality it’s like an ant colony in there – that more is more.
Eric Quach (Destroyalldreamers, thisquietarmy) provides guitar but I like to think of him predominantly as a pedalist than a guitarist, with the strings merely a source of tone and frequency while his pedals create the music. Ryan Ferguson (SIANspheric, Electroluminescent) creates atmospheric synth backgrounds as well as sounds that hang right in front of your brain. Making up the trio is Pascal Asselin (Below The Sea, Millimetrik) whose percussion provides a variety of industrial beats.
While on the whole ‘Infinity‘ is very different from the work of thisquietarmy, there are some familiar sounds, such as the guitar line in the second half of the opener, although the bigger similarity is in the way the songs seem to breathe. These improvised tracks are full of living, breathing emotion; love, fear, apprehension, pain, sadness, even hope. They are never hollow, empty, soulless or clinical.
The variations in sound are subtle, such as those heard in the drums, with stretches of apparent repetition filled with tiny nuances between each tap on the snare or the crash, or the slight slowing down for a few seconds in ‘Infinity 01’. Proof that this is not minimalist, but richly textured and teeming with life.
‘Infinity 04’ and ‘Infinity 06’ could so easily rock out after the three and ten marks respectively, but instead they keep these emotions under control, staying just this side of the point of no return, keeping your focus inward to that beating heart.
It’s one thing for a guitarist to squeeze extra life out a performance with some pedal manipulation. It’s another altogether when three artists can improvise as one. Not chugging out established chord progressions and rhythms while each takes turns to improvise in the spotlight, but creating musical adventures, as a unit, from scratch.
When you sit in a darkened room and put this on repeat it’s hard to know in the end if you are awake, asleep, or in another world, a world full of rich, devouring sound. Whatever the case, this record does not give more with less, it is simply brilliant, more or less.
‘Infinity’ is available now from Oxide-Tones.
Posted by Gilbert Potts.
