This Austrian trio have always been adept at bridling the wild energies of trio interplay. On their first release in five years, Brandlmayr, Németh and Norman play with much looser reins. "Git Cut Noise" builds out of the on/off static click of amplifiers before exploding into a white ball of splintering percussion and churning bass distortion. While the grit may be grittier on Chimeric, the recording strategies to capture surface detail remain microscopically precise. The click of switches, fingers striking strings and the sweep of brushes across the snare play directly upon the eardrum. Stefan Németh, fresh from the release of a new Lokai album, lurks in the interstices with an alloy of synthesizers, both melodic and atmospheric. The title refers to the unreal or illusory, and the tracks (not to mention instruments) flow into each other, changing density from edged solids to near-silent vapours, redefining moods, mode and style along the way. Tension is created not only with familiar quiet/loud dynamics but also with the aural equivalent to inter- and jump-cutting. Sounds happen in parallel then together then as echoes. It's clarity and disorientation together as you've never heard them before.
Is it more scheduling or ideas that brings you three together?
Németh: It is definitely about ideas for work that need to be addressed. If this is not the case or situation, the whole process of writing pieces becomes a struggle. We are not a band able to produce music continuously. There has always been some self-chosen challenge, a task, which we took as a primer for meeting in the rehearsal room.
What is behind Chimeric's more aggressive sound?
Martin Brandlmayr: Our music has always been very much about control. This time, we tried to work with structures that somehow got out of control. We wanted to integrate spontaneity and real-time composition into our system of work.
How much of the album took shape in editing?
Brandlmayr: The editing process took a really long time because there was such an incredible amount of layered material. I have been used to editing short samples, perhaps more in a "techno" sense. This time, we had these huge files and some pieces had 180 tracks ― no kidding. I have to say from time to time, I wanted to give up on that beast. I'm really glad we did it, in the end.
(Thrill Jockey)Is it more scheduling or ideas that brings you three together?
Németh: It is definitely about ideas for work that need to be addressed. If this is not the case or situation, the whole process of writing pieces becomes a struggle. We are not a band able to produce music continuously. There has always been some self-chosen challenge, a task, which we took as a primer for meeting in the rehearsal room.
What is behind Chimeric's more aggressive sound?
Martin Brandlmayr: Our music has always been very much about control. This time, we tried to work with structures that somehow got out of control. We wanted to integrate spontaneity and real-time composition into our system of work.
How much of the album took shape in editing?
Brandlmayr: The editing process took a really long time because there was such an incredible amount of layered material. I have been used to editing short samples, perhaps more in a "techno" sense. This time, we had these huge files and some pieces had 180 tracks ― no kidding. I have to say from time to time, I wanted to give up on that beast. I'm really glad we did it, in the end.