Double Review: Fabric – A Sort of Radiance // Bee Mask – Canzoni Dal Laboratorio Del Silenzio Cosmico
Editions Mego have played a vital role for the return of synthesizer based music in the last year. With the releases of Oneohtrix Point Never’s “Returnal” and Emeralds’ “Does it Look Like I’m Here”, the label have been responsible for two of the most prominent albums playing with the idea of Kosmische Musik in 2010… With that in mind it was a surprise to see the label starting a new venture going by the name of Spectrum Spools. It would appear that this new project is not so much a sub-label, but more an alternative Mego branch curated by John Elliot from Emeralds that will be taking things in a new direction musically. The first two releases available are Fabric’s “A Sort of Radiance” and Bee Mask’s “Canzoni Dal Laboratorio Del Silenzio Cosmico” – both venturing towards the Kosmische Musik territory offering a slightly different approach to the genre. After nearly forty years of synth arpeggios and space pads, it would seem that nearly every detail within the genre definition of Kosmische Musik have already been explored. However, once you take a closer look, it becomes apparent that innovation wasn’t always the driving force behind a lot of Kosmische Musik releases; It seems that immersion played an important role within the genre. Fabric’s “A Sort of Radiance” does a pretty good job at that. But unlike a lot of genre classics such as Klaus Schulze’s “Timewind”, Fabric’s approach is a little more fragmented than usual. Instead of long meditations reaching past the 30 minute mark, “A Sort of Radiance” is built upon smaller segments – mostly around three minutes. Strangely enough this doesn’t really break the flow, but feels more like delicate cracks within the texture. Despite the different approach, Fabric still rely heavily on the classic Kosmische trademark sound with their shifting synth arpeggios and the warm filter sweeps that build the foundation for these small space etudes. One of the great advantages of this more focused method is that the tracks never get the chance to wander off into endless and aimless noodles, which turned quite a few Kosmische Musik albums into the synth equivalent of mindless boring guitar wankery. Bee Mask’s “Canzoni Dal Laboratorio Del Silenzio Cosmico“ is not that much different from Fabric’s work, although the focus does slightly lean more towards the traditional side of things. The album consists of two tracks around the 15 minute mark, and there’s a lot more happening than you might first expect. Bee Mask’s compositions are a lot noisier than your regular space music release; Echoing filter zaps gravitate through the stereo field, dense atonal note clusters wash away in halls of reverb and drone immaculately into silence and noise – quite a journey. Whilst Fabric’s work may sound like a traditional study in contemporary space music, Bee Mask feels more like strapping oneself into a spaceship that is close to self destruction. The two tracks being much darker and dystopian than usual for this genre which makes for a fantastic listen! Spectrum Spools have kicked things off perfectly with two releases that do not disappoint – as long as you are into and have an understanding for the complexities of Kosmische Musik. It will be exciting to see where the label ventures from here on in; Do they stay within narrow boundaries or become somewhat similar to Mego – an open platform, which still manages to surprise the listener with the diverse direction of its releases.
