Nightshift [ep]
I was fortunate enough to have reviewed HinsidanÕs ŌBleach Dye yr HeartÕ fairly recently, which I thoroughly approved of if I remember rightly. However, this limited 10Ó 4-tracker doesnÕt do the same for me that that other disc did; my main problem with it was that it was too short and didnÕt really grab me as uncompromisingly as ŌBleach...Õ had. Saying that, the individual pieces of this disparate jigsaw still exhibit the same pared-down minimalist approach that attracted my attention that first time, however, it just didnÕt seem to hang particularly well together for some reason. I think though that that is more of a limitation of the EP format rather than anything to do with the music per se. Track one, for instance, is a superb long, sparkling and uplifting drone ambient piece, wafting in over gently lapping waves, that glitteringly hovers serenely above the head and soaks its way into the brain Š for me this was 7:44 of sensual aural pleasure, flooding its way into every crevice of grey matter I possess. Following on from this is a much more darkly sinister piece and a beast of a completely different complexion; misbegotten flappings, twangings and anguished voice reverberating in some godforsaken night- and dust-encrusted house existing on the borderland between sanity and dread eldritch madness, underpinned by hypnotic alien pulsing rhythmic heartbeats coursing through its malign veins. Unsettling and unnerving, this seeps into your consciousness and makes the hairs on your neck stand up, prompting visions of skittering and shambling amorphous shapeless intelligences just lurking in the spaces between dimensions, just waiting for an opportunity to burst through into our world to instigate the reign of terror and insanity. Shiveringly delicious! Flipping over to the other side we find that rhythm also features heavily on the third track, a remix by LÕombre of that sublime opening track, an artist whose work has featured on the German experimental and rhythmic industrial dance label Ant-Zen. Here the sublimity has been transformed into something altogether more substantially mechanical, which firmly places it within the earthly realm, whilst simultaneously retaining some of those ethereal elements of the original; the sound has been pulled back out of its rarified orbit and into the realm of the everyday, and firmly connecting it to the human dimension and the rhythms of life surrounding us. The only disappointment for me on this particular outing is that last live track Š and thatÕs mainly because I have never taken to live recordings in any way, shape or form (although there have been notable exceptions). And I think here the main problem are the vocals; whatever black ambience is created by the music is immediately shattered by the intrusion of the vocals, given that the track has a pleasing feeling of heavy immensity and industrial oppression about it Š in fact this must have been pretty impressive to behold in that live setting. The recording quality on this live track is definitely not the best, even though it doesnÕt necessarily detract from the overall ambience engendered by the performance Š thereÕs a distinct mushiness to it which adds to it rather than subtracts. However, even after saying that, I would lean towards the opinion that this track is the least successful of the songs on here. Overall, I like this Š I just wish that the flow hadnÕt been spoiled by putting that live track on as a full stop and that it was a bit longer. Those first three tracks exhibit the range Hinsidan are capable of producing quite nicely and I guess that the last track also serves to illustrate that point too, but it simply didnÕt quite work for me. Like I have intimated though, this is, on balance, a fine (if slightly flawed) addition to the stack of Hinsidan releases already out there.
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