Nonpop (DE)

(translated by Google Translate)

DAN ABRAMS alias SHUTTLE358 seems to have been a favorite of the 12k label for a long time – so at least we understand the label in their press release about this release. For this purpose, high-sounding comparisons are drawn. For example APHEX TWIN or BRIAN ENO. However – and this should be noted in advance – just the very short pieces seem to be the ones that reproduce this in compressed form, which seems rather consistent over the entire range of the album rather than varied.

Although a rather homogenous album does not necessarily have to sound uniform, it does require a bit more than the ideas, which at first glance flash up over the shortest distance, only dragging out more or less. However – and this must be admitted again – pearls are to be found here and there. However, they must first be released in order to be able to enjoy them in full splendor. Characteristic of this is the play “Edule” (04). First it cracks and crackles. But from the last third of a synthesizer plays a melody, which is quite exciting and just because of their tone hangs. For the elderly or movie affinities is mentioned that it is reminiscent of the film classic “Bladerunner”. But once you have settled down, the gem is already over again. Or, to stay in the picture mentioned, the shell closes much too quickly.

Also just the entry is of significant feature. “Star” (01) is a really remarkable title. Not only that he summarizes the entire album in advance – he is also of particular depth. At first, it is as if a radiotelephone is lying next to a radio. You know that. Then the phone is searching for its web and it starts to click strangely. The tone of the synthesizer, which is also used in the second piece “Caudex”, already appears here. In addition, the sounds used sound wonderfully hollow, that is, as if hammering on hollowed out bamboo poles. And finally, the intro ends as if ABRAMS had used a tiny piece of “Last Words” by WILLIAM S. BURROUGHS (an ULRIKE HAAGE radio broadcast in German translation). That will certainly neither understand nor know ABRAMS, but against this backdrop, this one and a half minute title in my ears clearly gains in color.

The rest is then marked by digital clicks and cuts, which are not necessarily varied. That may be due to the consistently calm mood, which also has no particularly worth listening fluctuations. This is quite pleasant to listen to title five “Field” (the title track so also). But from “Sea” (06), the album is stuck in a rather narrow soundscape. The sounds are repeated. The mobility within this zone remains reduced to a minimum. But this is then through “Dilate” (07) and “Waves” (08) – both pieces together have a playing time of two minutes – skillfully interrupted. Also “Divide” (09) is set well into the overall picture because of its finely tuned oblique crackling drums. “Blue” (10) then starts very quiet and reminds of the “Terra Incognita” of NON. However, the title then breaks from half and is even quieter. It will crackle again. Just like the final piece “Farming” (11).

An album, the time left, which – albeit on manageable terrain – must be tracked down to the last corner.