never anything 2017, edition of 50
"Somnoroase Pasarele is Gili Mocanu and Elena Album, two visual artists who live and work between Constanta and Bucharest in Romania. the so-called aleatoric techno of Somnoroase defies categorisation – techno, post-punk, experimental electronics or noise would be too restrictive and inadequate as labels. Their music is an enigma, and it doesn't strive for understanding. Somnoroase's music – wrapped in a layer of impenetrability and urgency – is a mirage, it seduces and pushes away at the same time, it is close, but far." - BABA VANGA
i've been following NEVER ANYTHING since their first tape NA1 by LUSTANA [REC #80] caught my eyes then ears in the fall of 2015 - so when DEMO (which i don't think is literally a "demo" and i'm not sure what it might mean in romanian, if anything) hit bandcamp about a month ago, i noticed it, but it fell into the "i will check this out eventually" queue, mostly because i have an ever growing list of things i would like to listen to while my free time to do so at a sufficiently close range is ever diminishing - also, i had never heard of em - apparently eight of their ten tapes dropped last year -- the weirdo cassette world is vast
the borrowed blurb above might set the scene for their other tapes, as my perusal confirms thus far, but it mostly misses the mark on DEMO, save "it doesn't strive for understanding... wrapped in a layer of impenetrability and urgency" -- it remained out of sight and mind for a couple weeks until
intense stuff, indeed - forty minutes of utterly engrossing suspenseful soundscapes, a one way ticket to the spine tingling far sides of fear and uncertainty at the immersed intersection of obsession, paranoia and reality, like a score for some (para?)psychological thriller shelved because it took over, made the visual aspect merely an afterthought, and moreover shattered some subconsciously reinforced hyperrealistic facade that made it too real, not just for the movie but for perceived reality - well i'm not sure i buy into all that hooplah but music like this sure makes me ponder it, and since i still have movies playing in my mind, what i hear is kinda like the ever deepening and distorting plot of REAR WINDOW somehow simultaneously infused with the complete blackout of 2001 - LIGETI, not STRAUSS
contemporary comparisons might include FIVE GUITARS FOR TONY CONRAD [REC #88] and way back recommendations in GLASS HOUSE's HEADLANDS [REC #2] and KURMA & OARIANA's FROM HERE ON IN [REC #13] - for hyperbole, it's kinda like if CHARLEMAGNE PALESTINE aggressively yet gracefully channeled his cathedral drone into glorious micropolyphonic orchestration with flecks of gray noise pillow top textural manipulation and singing bowl spiritualism - it is the cosmic chaos from which STARS OF THE LID were born, the shapeless nightmare lurking in the recesses of TIM HECKER's dynamic expressionism - not for the faint of heart, but for those who embrace it, close listening will be immensely rewarded
