As I listen to Australian guitarist Arek Gulbenkoglu's album, Points Alone, a strong discomfort washes over me. I'm listening as I type and although I've heard this before I still can't predict what's coming next. Repeated listening becomes a useless notion. No matter how many times I listen it all takes me by surprise. Without familiarity I can't warm to it. So why do I feel such a strong desire to connect? What keeps drawing me in only to spit me back out the other side cold?In essence the answer is quite simple. I crave this alienation. The speakers seem to snidely whisper, if you want me you're going to have to work at it. This music challenges me. This is exactly the reason why I'm drawn to this area of sound in general. When it all falls into place it feels like cracking a cypher. Points Alone is a cypher I haven't cracked yet.
What we have here is 5 untitled tracks of guitar abstraction. Silence features prominently in each of these tracks and is periodically interspersed with Gulbenkoglu's guitar exorcisms that sometimes sound overtly guitar-like and sometimes sound completely un-guitar-like.
That's basically it, but from this basic seed a complex beasts emerges. The silences throughout are uncomfortable. They sound digital in nature and contain no soul or sense of place. The guitar interruptions seem arbitrary. The sounds themselves are a cold partner to the silence. Sometimes you want the silence back. The tones on track 5 for instance extend beyond levels of tolerance and despite minute undulations the tone remains more or less unchanged. I crave respite yet I know I'll be drawn back to it. This track is the real standout.
My rantings may seem a little melodramatic but as I mentioned before I'm listening as I type and the head space I slip in and out of is unique to say the least. It's recordings like this that really make me reflect upon why I'm so drawn to this area of music. The air of intangibility that envelopes the best recordings is intoxicating. I'd liken it to entering a foreign country where you don't understand a word anyone is speaking. The atmosphere is beautiful and frightening at the same time.
Unfortunately familiarity eventually strikes if you immerse yourself in the unfamiliar for a long enough stretch of time. It's the very reason I feel like preserving the sense of wonder and fear I get with albums like Points Alone. If I keep at it I may crack the cypher and it could ruin it for me. At times like this I feel I should institute a special occasions pile. Fight the urge to listen in order to achieve a more lasting experience. The reality is that after a while fewer and fewer recordings have the ability to truly inspire awe. This is unavoidable. I'm perfectly happy to listen to an excellent album even if it doesn't really offer me anything new. There's something to be said for craft. As long as I can get those little gems from time to time that force me out of my comfort zone I'm more than happy. I'm rabbiting on. One of the caveats to being my own editor I suppose.
I really don't know how I feel about Points Alone but I have a feeling it's one of those little gems.
Impermenant Recordings
Arek Gulbenkoglu on last.fm
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