Monolake
Polygon_Cities

An album of seemingly sparse electronics, yet endowed with an internal energy, a frantic, lively rhythmic charge that is relentless. Undoubtedly, what makes this CD strong is the obsessive use of loops and that pulsating, deep bass accompanying almost all the tracks. The atmospheres are predominantly artificial, no IDM, no reference to anything hypothetically natural, no fancy melody to go along with it. Rhythms, almost only rhythms, punctuated by a few essential notes!

It vaguely reminds one of the mythical Autechre's Tri Repetae, but here the sound is deeper, with a decidedly more dance edge, yet it is not dance despite some sounds being dancefloor-derived; here everything fits into a completely different perspective. The rhythms are stripped of the banal jumble that afflicts much music.

The atmospheres are manneristic, there is a manic attention to detail, the sounds meticulously handled step by step, embedded one into another with surgical precision, yet it doesn't sound schizoid; on the contrary, it is calm, terribly calm. It is a compact album, with a clear line of thought and well-defined ideas that are maintained until the end, a clarity of spirit.

"Pipeline" is the track that presents the most fashionable references, accessible and enjoyable to anyone who grinds a bit of electronics (house, techno, or otherwise).

From the second track "CCTV", the situation complicates, the style doesn't change dramatically but the substance does. The rhythm becomes less danceable but remains equally tight, with a few strokes of very deep bass, icy hissing on the low frequency of the spectrum, sometimes smooth, other times more scratched. I believe it is the darkest peak of the entire album. A disconcerting exploration into the depths of modern society! In its perpetuation for more than 7 minutes, it is alienating, artificial, slow, very slow, electronics slowed to the max.

In "North", the rhythms become more complex, and the sounds fit mechanically yet fluidly. "Axis", "Digitalis", "Invisible" carry the project forward with consistency, without style slippage.

"Carbon" proves to be a spot-on title. Listening to its rhythm and that variable electronic scratch accompanying it, it feels like being inside a molecular model of fullerene (a polymorph of Carbon), exploring every corner and every shape of this molecule, seeing how the crystal lattice articulates in space giving life to something in perfect balance.

"Wasteland" is just a reverberated drone prolonged to infinity, "Plumbicon" closes the album returning to the themes of the first track Pipeline, ending the record on territories again brighter, again more dancefloor.

If it can be defined as such, don't be disgusted by this word, please!