Wade Matthews - Absent Friends

Sillon 3

When listening to software-generated electronics, I often find that the actual sounds produced (irrespective of their context) are overwhelmingly reminiscent of earlier experiments in the genre. Even if the match isn’t exact, which it surely never is, something about the general timbre or texture causes a direct memory link-up. When the first piece on Wade Matthews’ disc began, I immediately started thinking of things like Dick Raaijmakers’ fantastic work from the 60s. I’ve no idea if the chirping and skittering about in the Matthews piece actually matches up with anything of Raaijmakers but the “tone” strikes me as quite similar; I feel like I’m in the same backyard. However, unlike in the best work of Raaijmakers, the first several pieces presented here come across as more a catalog of interesting sounds than a thoroughgoing construct. Though the specific sounds switch up on the next track to rubbing buzzes and harsh, high roars and together work somewhat more cohesively, that sense of paging through a bunch of effects still lingers. After the third cut, bloops and pops, remained in the same general ballpark, very redolent of 60s electronic lab work, I figured I had this disc’s number. But then, much to my surprise, the following section opened with a long drone, a kind of reedy, hollow-sounding, multi-layered hum that more than held fascination on its own. It maintains a slow, seesaw-y aspect between two tones, as squeals and static begin to flutter about. Those flutters start to wow scarily and the squeals take on a low siren-like character; a strong, effective work. Track 5 blisters nicely but the blebs frustratingly fail to sustain resiliency and the penultimate number merely recapitulates the scattershot attack of the first few. But the last piece, an enticing exploration of sizzle, comes to the rescue. Part of me suspects that, ultimately, it’s pure aural candy but if so, it’s a sweetness that captivates, sending one’s eardrums into hypoglycemic shock.

“Absent Friends” is a frustrating disc in many ways but its highpoints make it worth a hearing.

http://www.sofamusic.no/sillon/