Title: Absent’s Children
Artist: Absent
Genre: Experimental
Release Date: 29th April 2008
Label: Guerrilla Underground
Introduction
ABSENT was founded in September 2003 and is the project of the composer and researcher in contemporary sound art Yannick Donet and Frederic Bailly an active member in the French underground scene. Together with the help of Silvain Weber, they’re developing an experimental substance as homage to fantastic movies and the electronica scene
Members
Yannick Donet - Sounds
Frederic Bailly - Sounds
Silvain Weber - VJ
Website
http://www.myspace.com/absentdarkelectronica
Track Review
01. L’aire de l’informe - 6:25
So you still remember that sounds when a tape hangs. This strange kind of sound telling you, you most probably have to buy a new one because this one’s damaged beyond repair. This is, what you will hear, when this track starts and after a seemingly endless time span. Slowly, very slowly other elements start to appear: a sustained layer in a rather deep pitch and something similar to a drum pattern. More samples and a loud clicking are fading into the audible area and finally there’s a melody bringing order into the chaos accompanied by an 8-bit drum sound
02. La capacité d’étre seul - 6:21
It starts quite harmless with layered mixture of sampled sounds, which were put together to serve as a rhythmical foundation. A sample sounding like someone’s typing something on an old type writer is accompanying it. The dark, deep melodies, setting in some time could derive from a silent movie playing on a funfair, but no ordinary one. Something dark is surrounding it. You can feel that. Then it get much more elaborate with a harsh break in structure turning the ‘song’ into a cacophony of samples, fusing to one single stream of abstract rhythm patterns, while the dark melodies always remain
03. Willy - 5:05
Here, the focus is out on the differentiated use of melodies or melodic fragments. There is one dominating melody theme that is your companion in this song. Some time its clearer; then again filters and effects are applied on it. All around you can hear diversified sound manipulations, ranging from good old reversing to sounds I don’t even have a name for to be honest. Also a flute appears here, giving the song a ghostly touch. Close to the end it gets a bit chaotic for the ears. So many things are assailing you. Then it suddenly subsides to fade out into nothing.
04. Processus primaire - 4:24
The centre of the attention would be the piano here. It’s almost like with ‘Willy’. There is a central element, which is giving the song continuity. An element of order like already mentioned before. The piano applies a subliminal feeling of melancholy to the song and somehow it sounds out of its time. Again, there are many samples and I’m still not sure, which kind of sound they represent, but some are easier to figure them out. Like mistuned string instruments, shoes sounds have been sampled, torn apart and then put together again.
05. Sticky skies (Kabutogami) - 4:59
Now we’re entering the remix section and we start with a remix of the first EP track ‘L’aire de l’informe’ .You can instantly recognize it by the typical melody line from the original and some of the other sounds have been used as well, but the arrangement itself has changed. The sounds were re-grouped and re-cut.
06. Little faust’s plays (La Division Mentale) - 6:47
We’re back on that dark funfair. The basic melody remained including a few sounds. Anything else was replaced or manipulated in a way you wouldn’t recognize it again. To my surprise a sort of drum & bass beat has been composed, which sounds a little bit strange to my ears.
07. Dark Corridor (Ten Data Keshin) - 4:28
At lea it has a constant beat, but again far from being a normal one. The experiment with the sound, the tone sculpturing is also an important element here. It clicks and crackles everywhere. Sounds and samples are alienated, reversed and manipulated and with every listen you will discover something, which wasn’t there before.
08. L’efance (Shizuka) - 4:33
A piano is standing on a backyard and it’s playing its melancholic melody over and over again, but nobody ever seems to hear it. This is, what I see, when I’m listening to this remix of ‘Processus primaire’. The mood is accentuated by pad sounds and sustained synth layers. The beat is unusually straight this time, but garnered with a melange of speech samples and alternating sound manipulations.
Cover Picture
Rating
Music: 8
Sound: 8
Extras: -
Total: 8
Conclusion
Experimental is what fits best to this style, because I wouldn’t want to call that ordinary music as it’s far away from being normal in any aspect. This is also the catch with this kind of music. As much as I like it, there will be others hating it. There’s no middle here. It’s not easy listening and it demands you to listen to it very carefully, otherwise it wouldn’t make sense. Its sonic art and I guess the circle of listeners will be remaining very small, but you should definitely take a listen and decide for yourself.
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