Absent Sound

Winnipeg/Pine Falls artists Dave Forte and Rob Menard shift gears between ambient soundscapes, repetitive raga droners and progressive dub on this instrumental, five-song independent release. Though the number of tracks suggests an EP, the disc is book-ended with a pair of veritable aural epics thus clocking proceedings in at just over the 53-minute mark. Guitars (more often than not looped or digitally delayed), a range of keyboards and a variety of percussive instruments comprise most of the foundation here, along with a healthy dose of rumbling, and at times nearly subsonic skrink skronk assembled over top. Think Mogwai lullabies, but don’t think about it too hard. A fresh and engaging studio artefact of what’s said to be an exceptional live entity.