Désormais

Mitchell Akiyama (Montreal) communicated with Joshua Treble (Cincinnati) via email, upload, telephone and CDR to produce their first collaborative work as Désormais. The result is a recording that readily admits its synthetic nature while frequently betraying the human hands that crafted it. The fourth album from Akiyama's Intr_version label is not a happy one, however. "World Remains" opens with what sounds like a vintage school fire alarm - subdued, as though the camera is already panning in on the first victim - accompanied by what could be the climactic score of an existentialist film noir. Minutes later, warm bouncing ball sounds surface, seeming to call and echo but leaving the listener unable to tell. Other tracks, like "Failure for Every Flavor," give the listener little more than static transmissions until the six-minute mark, where hopeful phrases emerge. Rarely is so obvious a connection made between aural pleasure and onerous sorrow. Désormais, French for "from now on," announces that the future is here and need not crush us.