Various

Montreal's experimental music scene has a new label to exhibit its wares, both hard and soft. Minimalism is the watchword here but the 12 artists approach it from intersecting spheres of ambience, concrete, dub and techno. Simon Carpentier (Sapin) provides a fitting introduction with "Balade," a track that combines a soggy electro-acoustic sound walk with a chilly network of electronics from the Raster-Noton catalogue. Laforge and Sul.a follow up with a couple of micro-beat pieces that are part Tangerine Dream, part Frank Bretschneider. "Luminescence" is an ethereal piece by Julie LeBlanc (/de.i.te/) that hovers and vibrates in the middle distance, just out of focus. Martin Dumais (AUN) labels his efforts "blight metal" but "Human Prince" is light on doom and heavier on the hazy echo. More haunted is "Somewhere Cold" by Pascal Asselin (Le Chat Blanc Orchestra), which conjures quiet moments of devastation from Lynch films. At heart, this is a post-dusk collection that contemplates isolation as the streetlights flicker.