Nigel Truswell has a new double-LP release for aperture records, his first for the label since 2014. Trilate Shift is an austere, at times dense electronic recording that will wow lovers of non-dance-oriented electronic music. What it won't do, though, is appeal to a broad audience.
The disc's black and white cover is well-suited to this dramatically colourless new material. Oberman Knocks' electronics are severe and bleak; nothing here gives comfort. Trilate Shift is a bed of cold, rusty nails — a very big, grandiose bed of nails. It's difficult not to be impressed by the scale of these 14 tracks: Your speakers will shudder; your ears will ring.
Trilate Shift is a soundtrack for the highest-res picture you've ever seen — an appropriate analogy given Truswell's recent success with film and installation work. He turned out a soundtrack for The Red Tree, an award-winning documentary last year; in 2016, he had an entry in the Week 53 festival produced by The Lowry in Salford, a group who commissioned his sound installation.
The detail throughout this double-LP is remarkable. There is almost never just one or two things going on, but because the production values are so high, every addition makes the work both more dynamic and less predictable. No question, Trilate Shift is a dark, somewhat foreboding release that will find few casual admirers. But for those with a taste for dystopian audio art, it's a great success.
(Aperture)The disc's black and white cover is well-suited to this dramatically colourless new material. Oberman Knocks' electronics are severe and bleak; nothing here gives comfort. Trilate Shift is a bed of cold, rusty nails — a very big, grandiose bed of nails. It's difficult not to be impressed by the scale of these 14 tracks: Your speakers will shudder; your ears will ring.
Trilate Shift is a soundtrack for the highest-res picture you've ever seen — an appropriate analogy given Truswell's recent success with film and installation work. He turned out a soundtrack for The Red Tree, an award-winning documentary last year; in 2016, he had an entry in the Week 53 festival produced by The Lowry in Salford, a group who commissioned his sound installation.
The detail throughout this double-LP is remarkable. There is almost never just one or two things going on, but because the production values are so high, every addition makes the work both more dynamic and less predictable. No question, Trilate Shift is a dark, somewhat foreboding release that will find few casual admirers. But for those with a taste for dystopian audio art, it's a great success.
