Aidan Baker

Toronto-area multi-instrumentalist Aidan Baker (of ARC) has composed and performed yet another magnificent multi-layered collection of soundscapes, this time inspired loosely by letters penned by Jack the Ripper and a poem about the Marquis de Sade, by Octavio Paz. At times, the sound texture is like an attempt to restore an antiquated piece of optical sound film - with ghostly distant voices faintly in the background and rhythms pulsing like various random bits of film from different titles and genres. Also, there is so much crossing of sounds going on that there surely is some mutation occurring, like the sound of bizarre animal cries and such. Letters is a pleasurable, challenging and enveloping listen, weeping melancholy amidst looping dronescapes. Delectable.