By: Jack Mckeever
Released on July 24, 2015 via Thrill Jockey
Fox Millions Duo is a collaborative effort between Greg Fox (the masterful sticksman renowned for his part in the music of Guardian Alien, Liturgy, Ben Frost and Zs) and Kid Millions (also an affirmed member of Oneida, Man Forever and People of the North). It’s a union that makes perfect sense not just on paper; the artistic vision endorsed by Fox & Millions, if not entire similar, was certainly characteristic in its uniqueness via their previous projects. Both involved with various projects dedicated to finding new ways to develop sonic borders, Lost Time, in theory at least, is a coming together of two of the brightest minds experimental music has hurled at the casual listener’s ear-drums over the course of the past 5 years.
Like a lot of experimental music, Lost Time is more about atmospheres and vivid creativity than it is about actual, you know, songs. It’s combined of two 20-minute tracks, both of which are singular and vastly different from each other in what they attempt to convey. Both are artistic, both seem to be reaching for something greater than the sum of their parts; again, not an uncommon aesthetic in this kind of music, but that’s not to say that the richness explored here isn’t totally rewarding.
The first of these monoliths is ‘Telegy/ Time Lapse’. In this case, it’s the skittering electronics that provide the backbone for the chaotic bombard that takes place from behind the kits. The assault that occurs is both rollicking but primal, bursting with finesse but seemingly improvisational. It’s hard not to be reminded of the genuinely feel-good thrashing notion of the drumming endorsed in Damina Chazelle’s recent lauded film Whiplash. The atmosphere here is merely one of combustion however, and just like the similar gambit at the end of the song, it rather out-stays its welcome.
The second movement of the track though is probably the most Swans-esque “fuck me this is odd” musical moment you’ll hear this year. Fuelled musically by squalling, impenetrable feedback and Fox’s 10-armed drumming, it’s carried otherwise by a series of increasingly pained, savage and animalistic vocal wailing. By the end of the track it’s somewhere between nightmarish and feverish, and the atmosphere is of a birthday party in Gotham’s Arkham Asylum gone as wrong as it possibly could have done.
The second track, ‘Post Encounter Effect’, offers itself as the more musical side of the record. A cavernous one-note acid-fried space drone monster that wouldn’t feel out of place on an Earth album, it’s completed with more engrossing dynamics as it progresses; psychedelic, wobbling synths and Eastern-tinged, mystical brass recall certain moments on ‘Terrestrials’, the collaborative album by Ulver and SunnO))) last year. The affair becomes progressively more cosmic as the atmospherics get more odd-ball and the weight more thunderous.
Ultimately, Lost Time is an album for music fans who like to be tested, and in some instances, punished. It doesn’t particularly bring anything definitely unique to the drawing board, but it does take the influences it flaunts and turns them into something that it is its own baby. It’s an album that can sometimes seem like not quite enough, but deserves to be paid thorough attention to in order to get a full-grasp. It bares honourable, mostly blood-pumping and exciting fruits for those who seek them.
