“Alkaline is a very good psybient E.P. which respects in all aspects the boldness of Ultimae Records”
1 Alkaline 10:07 2 Diffraction Protocol 7:25 3 Parenthesis 7:54 Ultimae Records | inre 077 (CD/DDL E.P. 25:27) (V.F.) (Psybient)
Ectoplasmic choirs, humming of interstellar machines, particles of floating dusts, ambience coated by sizzling tones and by broken soft rhythms; this 2nd part of a collaboration in three acts of Aes Dana & Miktek continues where Cut had left us bleed at the end of 2014. And it's these ingredients which assault our ears from the first moments that ALKALINE passes from the imagination of the duet to our ears. The ambiences are papered with carbonized particles and the effect remains near the borders of the unreal with ill-assorted filet of voices which murmur and float among the sharp whip lashes which are extracted from the rustle of the metallic percussions. The first bass pulsations arrive at the 4th minute point. They beat a slow pace and lift a thick cloud of metallic jingles where are roaming some syllabic chords which refute any possessions by the voices. It's rather scarlet lines which criss-cross the tetanized moods where limp slightly a pond of insects whose cut wings justify this approach of a compact mass which walks on the back of each others. Alkaline is as much hard for the ear than fascinating for those who adore sounds and these rhythms which arise from their shadows. It's psybient in its most beautiful sound delirium. And it's after this intro loaded of tones as disparate as the songs of worms on Mars that Alkaline embraces slowly a more electronica phase with a heavy and slow rhythm encrypted by the heavy resonances of its pulsations of which the booms-booms are nibbled by a thick cloud of metallic wings which crackle from everywhere. A rhythm which quietly streamlines its body with luxurious synth lines filled with white drizzle and with ghostly voices which coat all the Alkaline mystery.
A mass of hollow winds torments the ears in the opening of Diffraction Protocol. Murmurs and metallic rustles awaken the pulsations of which the resonant curves kiss the emptiness. The noises writhe and roam like the ghosts of a disused factory. The pulsations gather their echoes in order to forge a good mid-tempo where ooze the whispers and the wasted waters of carbon. The rhythm limping of its uneven steps, Diffraction Protocol moves forward with great difficulty in a sonic corridor filled of strange nuances. The structure of rhythm crumbles its pace and takes it back without too big conviction beneath the ceaseless tinglings of the metallic elytrons before being guillotined by a swarm of oxygenated noises. And like a dying, the bass line beats, goes out and returns back for its last jolts. Parenthesis offers the most steady structure of rhythm of ALKALINE. And this even if the ambiences of caves oozing of ochred water interrupt its spasmodic romps. The intro is of ambiences fed of white noises and of synth lines which inhale the smells of bloody battlefields. The rhythm beats early and leans on pulsations of bass-drums and is decorated with metallic jingles among which some line are sparkling such as the fires of machine-guns, in a sonic environment which respects in every aspect the boldnesses of the Franco-Greek. It's a good down-tempo, a bit morphic, tinted with all these nuances which make the charms of the Lyon label. It's a unique sonic decor where the dialogue of insects seems to us so familiar as these white noises which affect quite quietly the life of the latent rhythms of this 2nd duel between Dana/Miktek. Sylvain Lupari (June 9th, 2015) *****
Available at Ultimae Records' Bandcamp