Ryu Hankil/Jin Sangtae/Taku Unami/Mattin - 5 Modules III

Manual

The third release on this intriguing label out of Korea is an improvised quartet though the innocent listener could be forgiven for hesitancy in ascribing either of those two terms. As member Ryu Hankil (clockwork, contact mic) writes in his liners, there’s certainly a composed-sounding feeling to the single, 55-minute piece (divided into 11 five minute tracks, presumably to enhance airplay possibilities). Additionally, its overall sparseness seems, superficially, to have possibly emanated from a single individual, not four. But neither is the case as Jin Sangtae (laptop, radio), Taku Unami (laptop) and Mattin (laptop) are on hand as well.

In his brief accompanying notes, Mattin dwells on perceptions of time and one of the obvious components of the recording is the near metronomic rhythm of many sound elements which are churned out in slow, mechanical precision. The other salient feature is how “empty” the soundscape in which they’re tick-tocking is. Its sublimation level might approximate that of MIMEO’s “sight”, a work with which I found myself making comparisons even though their methods of construction are vastly different. The “interruptions” here are more aggressive, even at times strident, but there’s at least the surface aspect of tension in the wait between occurrences. The timepiece nature of many of the sounds almost necessarily conjures a semi-paranoid feeling and when, on a couple of occasions, a loud complex drone emerges, often in startling fashion causing several jumps in the chair, I was thinking in terms of systems failures, misalignments in the otherwise regular, if only rarely heard, rote temporal progressions as delineated by the ticking. In fact, the more one hears the piece that way, the more dystopian it becomes.

More concretely, one does wonder what, if any, strictures were in place during the performance. It’s a fascinating direction, in any case. Ryu Hankil writes, “This could be consumed as music, but it makes me think of something different than that. I still cannot say what it is.” Good question, but causing the listener to think is reward enough for the time being.

manual