Back
after a two-year hiatus, Icarus release their latest album ‘Sylt’
courtesy of Rump Recordings. Icarus comprises of British duo,
Ollie Bown and Sam Britton who have now released 6 albums over
the course of a decade on innovative labels including Leaf and
Temporary Residence. This experience has obviously contributed
to the bands approach in creating free-flowing and intricately
arranged slabs of intelligent electronica and as such, they have
received praise from both press and artists, including Murcof
and Evan Parker. The 7 tracks which make up ‘Sylt’
were devised around two extended improvised tracks ‘first
and second inf(e)rænce’, taken from a live performance
in Toulouse in 2006.
‘Sylt’ builds on previous releases by channelling
the duo’s ‘drum’n’bass’ beginnings
into a dark and complexly arranged electro-accoustic beast which
utilises elements of free-jazz, psychedelica, musique-concrete,
avant-garde, found-sound and IDM, to create a sound-collage which
is not only innovative and challenging, but that flows effortlessly.
Opener ‘keet’ is steeped in ethnic mysticism and stacked
full of abrasive yet melodic strings and intensely arranged percussion
(utilising a variety of sound-sources). Together with the cinematic
electro-acoustic backdrop which drifts in after two minutes, it
sounds like a crossbreed of Murcof and Four Tet. Track 2 ‘rugkiks’
ups the ante with its frenzied and micro-clustered insect-core
which is nestled within a bed of contemporary-jazz dynamics, foreboding
synths and emergent bass.
Track 3 ‘first inf(e)rænce’ is a 18 minute epic
which marks the centre point of ‘Sylt’. It starts
off with Squarepusher-esque drum’n’bass percussion
and fizzy/buzzing synthesiser and drone attacks. Elements of musique-concrete
from the Xenakis school of sound then enter and swell within the
now busy and bristling soundscape which continues to innovatively
ebb and flow across a diverse and challenging sonic-terrain of
“avant-garde free drum’n’bass” that would
impress Amon Tobin in its sequencing and technicality. The second-part,
featured in the latter stages of the album is entitled ‘second
inf(e)rænce’. It is a more abstractly arranged piece
which destroys any previous conceptions the listener may have
had about where ‘D’n’B’ could go by bringing
elements of Ligeti-esque avant-garde classical compositions to
provide the core skeleton. On top of this there are off-kilter,
sometimes ingenious (drum’n’bass sequenced tabla anybody?),
sometimes grating, sound samples which provide the pulse. The
bringing together of tightly clustered and intricately sequenced
D’n’B effects into a world of angular and abrasive
avant-garde instrumentals is something to behold, especially as
there is a foreboding, noir-ish undercurrent which makes the proceedings
more cohesive and listenable. Together, both tracks make a formidable
entity and take D’n’B into a whole other, unchartered
realm.
Following this, track 4 ‘selfautoparent’ enters a
dark and mystical world which sounds like the destruction of an
electro-acoustic studio by evil machines, and then moves towards
creating a score to a thrilling escape-sequence which is dripping
in ambience. Track 6 ‘jyske’ engages and freaks out
listeners with its creepy and unnerving Hitchcock-esque composition
which utilises the creaky metallic distortion of Xenakis’
famous ‘Persepolis’ work. The closer ‘volks!’
successfully brings busy Eastern hand-percussion into play to
form a backdrop to fraying strings ands muffled bass. It then
satisfyingly explodes into light with a burst of (a)rhythmic metallic
percussion before being lost in a sea of everyday sounds which
starkly notifies the listener of their impending return to society.
All the time throughout ‘Sylt’, there is a real sense
of freedom and space within the soundscape and Icarus have expertly
utilised the concept of free jazz dynamics and sonic-ambience
as key strategic tools in order to create depth, stimulate the
listeners senses and expand the soundstage. This is highly refreshing
considering the amount of artists that utilise the dynamics of
ambient music purely as a lazy backdrop to extend a tracks length.
‘Sylt’ is not an album to liven up a party, its just
too avant-garde and experimental. Instead it serves as a one-hour
slice of pure listener indulgence, where one can stroke his or
her chin in satisfaction at the rich and dense tapestry of sound
collage that greets them. (KS)
For fans of: Imagine placing albums by Four Tet, Amon Tobin, Squarepusher,
Murcof, Lutz Glandien, György Ligeti, Iannis Xenakis, SND
and Philip Glass into your cd changer and then pressing play only
to find them all playing at the same time
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