Left Hand Cuts off the Right – Worker. Modestly described as ‘sketches’ made while holding down a job during Covid, these start out as pleasant ambient tracks which turn ominous in the latter half, as less tractable sounds start to take up a once-benign language.
Nemeton / Rafael Anton Irisarri – Lot 178. A relic of Cafe Oto’s fundraiser auction earlier in the pandemic, these two tracks pair Nemeton’s sampled and processed orchestrations of Stan Adler’s cello with Irisarri’s remix of Nemeton. Both are monolithic, with Irisarri arcing up the light, the dark and the dynamic range.
Ben Bertrand and Otto Lindholm – Reversion. Bass clarinet and double bass with electronics make something less lugibrious than expected, more like analogue synths with a foggy, exhumed sound. Just noticed that The Sinking of the Titanic was a bonding experience for them, which makes sense.
Li Yilei – Specimen. Stupidly managed to not pay attention to this one first time I listened. The first track’s OK, but each section gets progressively more compelling with an eclectic range of instruments and sound sources deftly treated and combined into an intriguing and highly satisfying sequence. The website implies the whole thing is a realisation from a score consisting of a line of rocks.
Cara Tolmie – Lit by a Car. Hard to pin this one down. Tolmie harmonises and processes her voice in ways that start to lose all resemblance to voice. When she re-emerges from her soundscapes you’re left to contemplate if this is a return or a transformation.
