“Avant-gardist and guardian of an idea trapped in its concept, this album will reward those who expect more in a dark ambient music”
1 Electromagnetism 38:14
2 The Healing Drone 22:07
3 The Silence Beyond 13:50
(CD-R/DDL24Bits 74:11) (V.F.)
(Dark ambient experimental music)
This is not here that we arouse the hair of the legs! In other words; if you're looking for dynamic music with juicy sequences and unpredictable beats, skip GO without taking the $200. But if you are attracted to the ambient music buzzing of tension and of secret implosions, you are at the right place. Available on SynGate's Bandcamp in 24-bit downloadable format, as well as on HQ CD-R, ELECTROMAGNETISM invites the listener on a journey through electrical circuits. Except for a delicious 3 minutes in The Healing Drone, the music on this album is totally ambient. And this 3rd album from Divided By Two follows the same principles as Dissolution with an album where it's difficult to explain our attachment to, so much the atmospheric intergenic mazes bring us back to the same starting point, namely the powers of the anti -music. This is art for ears with a layer of sound that unfolds around the periphery of the nucleus that Perceptual Defence and Syndromeda embellishes with a layer of sounds on top of a layer of tones that have the particularity of slipping a new tonal color in the depth of our eardrums. But how do you bring an electro-magnetic exhibition to life? By imagining a sphere surrounded by multitudes of halos, a bit like Jupiter and its rings which imprison its rotation. The sphere having no other choice but to spit out its various electric particles which constantly fatten the filaments which wind around and which make it roll slowly, very slowly. This is the scenario unfolding in our ears! Gabriele Quirici and Danny Budts had to work hard to coordinate and create a universe of electro-magnetism, because they do it with a stripping realism.
The long title-track leads us through these corridors where electricity lives on its static power with almost organic snores. Its opening is composed of silent winds which pulsate gently but slide artificially until meeting a first pulsation. A mass of white noise wants to participate in this spheroidal parade while bluish filaments get iridescent in this scenery drawn from science fiction. The synth lines are thinner than streaks and flutter in the direction of the current in a tonescape where curler-strings are purring of an organic life as well as the static impulses and the long reverberating filaments eject from the sphere to add to the various elements that make up its static mass. These very distant beats are the only inciting rhythmic trace that melts into this decor where sound effects will constantly be added, usually secondaries, which will amplify the ambient mass of Electromagnetism. And if you hear locusts, it's because the destruction of the sound arcs has infiltrated the quiet of the nights on the edge of the forests. We can travel according to our visions everywhere around this long track, but usually we will find ourselves at the same point. I found this 38-minute experience a bit long, unlike The Healing Drone which takes us back to the dark mood structures we know from the individual repertoires of Perceptual Defense and Syndromeda. Its opening is made of hollow winds, silent ululations and long filaments which infiltrate a circular magma where chthonic voices are silenced. Purring organic lines make their throaty gurgles heard, creating more of a horror film effect than a visit inside an electrical circuit.
This vision helps a little more to absorb this symphony for experimental electronic music which lives on the constant injection of ideas put into sound. Sharp streaks fly over this ambient mass and organic effects eject from the core and reverberating buzzes go forth with their iconoclastic chants, much as if the organic matter of The Healing Drone would die in place. From this circular sound mass is born a very beautiful movement of staggering rhythm. A rhythm that skips and hobbles in a good movement of the Berlin School unique to the signature of Syndromeda. These 3 minutes of life are precious to survive the next 10 minutes of The Healing Drone where I constantly have this feeling of hearing a string quartet dissolve leaving their strings wither in pain. It's in lost howls and musical breezes carved in the void that the cosmic rain of The Silence Beyond slips into our headphones. This opening is the most lyrical moment of this album where crispy filaments of pearl liquid add a very charming organic vision. This element, which will survive the weathering of breezes and their electric particles, arouses curiosity and allows us to travel with interest inside the 12 minutes of The Silence Beyond and its storm of electromagnetic disturbances.
Not for everyone, but impressive in its sound sphere in constant boiling of new ideas, ELECTROMAGNETISM is an album which is aimed at fans of the genre. Avant-gardist and guardian of an idea trapped in its concept, we forgive Divided By Two this gap that flirts with science fiction and horror. Two concepts more seller and easier to digest.
Sylvain Lupari (August 22nd, 2020) *****
Available at SynGate Bandcamp