Infinitus Ensemble
"Scherbenschlaf" CDR
Frequent
Sea Records
Genre: experimental, ambient,
post-rock
Germany
October 2009 |
Frequent Sea's Al
sends his regards with this disc: "This is the new Infinitus
Ensemble disc. I think it's amazing..." High praise, but what
else from the guy who's releasing the album? Fortunately,
Scherbenschlaf (English: "Sleep of Shards") is a startlingly rewarding affair, although my
inability to comprehend German is impeding me from parsing the
spoken word material that's been laid over the dark, ambient
instrumentation.
Still, there is much
to enjoy on this intense record. Infinitus Ensemble performs
dark, atmospheric compositions which exude a sort of haunted house
mood, reminiscent of the solo work of Einsturzende Neubauten's
Alexander Hacke. On the tracks with words, the compositions
are primarily mood-setters, be it the eerie dirge of "Best of Prey,"
the haunting synths on "The White Room," or the windy, Autumn-ish
emptiness of "Laborious." Somehow, the German language is so
perfectly fitted to these mysterious compositions - though part of that is
the creepily detached intonation of the speakers. The instrumental
tracks take even greater liberties with their atmospheres.
"Capsule," for example, elicits an image of a rickety old mansion in
a thunderstorm; it comes replete with an unsettling drone, sampled
creaking and cranking, and the sounds of a distant bell. Also
titillating are the warped piano keys of "Smooth Away (pt. 2)" and
the boiler room ambiance of terrifying "Escape."
The overall effect
of this album evokes images of a creepy tour through the decaying mansion of the subconscious,
and with that in mind, the Infinitus Ensemble has done a spectacular
job of designing an atmospherically intense journey of an album. The release's only major problem is the
inclusion of gaps of silence between the tracks, which clearly aren't supposed
to be there. [Update: Apparently, this problem afflicts only
certain copies of the album, and all new copies come gap-free!]
N.B. Comes
packaged in eerie, flower-patterned wallpaper. Perhaps torn straight
from the mansion's walls?
infinitus ensemble's myspace
Matt Shimmer
[Vitals: 14 tracks,
limited to 99 copies, distributed by
the
label,
released 2009] |
