Following up to the second Fractal Sextet album can be quite a challenge to see what Stephan Thelen has in store for the rest of his listeners by opening up the door and see what parallel universe will he explore. There’s no denying that Thelen always has tricks up his sleeves when it comes to his collaboration with Sonar, Radio Osaka, Markus Reuter, Jon Durant, or J. Peter Schwalm, you never know what to expect from Thelen himself.
That and his new album on the RareNoise label entitle Worlds in Collision, sees Thelen diving into the deep end, embarking on this incredible journey to find the lost worlds that people have been exploring at the bottom of the sea. The genesis behind Worlds in Collision goes back to Stephan, revisiting the groundbreaking collaboration of Brian Eno and David Byrne’s album My Life in the Bush of Ghosts which used speech samplers before sampling was invented.
It inspired him to create this poly-rhythmic percussion that puts him closer to the edge. And to be allowed to have the same team including Ian Allison, Tim Harries, and Manuel Pasquinelli to the forefront, they know it is going to be, one hell of an album that’ll require repeatable listens, top to bottom.
‘Atomic’ becomes a continuation of the film-noir setting with its futuristic, electro drum beats in which it puts you right in the middle of this crime scene that’s happening. Laswell’s mixing on this track adds in the increasing temperature in which the synths and programming channel the ‘60s duo Silver Apples and their hypnotic track ‘Magic Fingers’.
Bill, who had done the Translations compilation from Sonar back in 2019, and on ‘Urban Landscape’ from the Fractal Guitar Remixes and Extra Tracks digital release the same year, puts together this morse code beat to really get your heart beating as you race down the line, like an intensive workout Thelen has put his listeners through. The title-track is a radical arrangement which speaks of ‘The National Anthem’ from Radiohead.
There’s the percussion groove, rising synths, and never knowing when the danger is going to hit. Sampling dialogue sets up the Orwellian experience and the feeling that big brother has a target on people, saying the wrong thing and could get the townsfolk in trouble. Thelen knows his imaginative scenery by painting the structure when he gets down to business.
‘Kosmonaut’ feels like an ordinary day in the life of people coming in and out to work in the morning and afternoon. You feel the pressure, the deadline’s, waking up at the crack of dawn, the pounding textures puts the wheel to the grind as you take a quick shower, toast in your mouth, and run like crazy to get to your job, lickety-split.
With its trip-hop orientation, Thelen and his crew members really put the pressure on us, seeing what is happening inside the building, and the weight on their shoulders starts to grow more and more to finally say enough. The sound of World Music and Krautrock becomes this cross-over event combining CAN’s Tago Mago, Future Days, and Peter Gabriel’s score to The Last Temptation of Christ, builds up like a pressure cooker ready to boil at any second when it comes to the opening track ‘Palmero’.
Screeching guitars, heavy riffs, howling improvisations, feedback, and boiling dance grooves, the team pour their hearts into the music, followed by I believe its Tim Harries’ pop and slap texture on his bass to get the train rolling at 500 miles per hour with static shouts coming left and right. A great way to start the album off with a bang.
Speaking of train rollings, Thelen has enough coal to make the ‘Bullet Train’ go even faster than 500 miles per hour. I mean we ain’t talking about how fast the train is, but faster than the Flash from DC Comics that’ll be there in no time, waiting for your next destination as you enjoy the ride, look at the landscape with its industrial, laid-back, avant-rock, and powering arrangements coming out of the subway.
Etching down the closing arrivals, both ‘Voices from the Ether’ and ‘Coda’ shows signs of all good things coming to an end as Thelen makes absolutely sure the landing is spot-on perfect. When you see him getting down to business, that means don’t bother him because you’ll distract him and he’ll not be a happy camper. And we don’t want that now, do we?
The power of string sections at the end turned into peppering loops in its segueing tone, they begin to go quiet very softly as the journey comes to a mysterious end.
