Genre: Experimental / Industrial / Dark Ambient / Drone
01. Spiral Ignite Flesh
02. Somnambulist Carving
03. Our Very Own
04. Scratch Spit
05. Her Veil Projected
06. Into Transformation
07. Smudge
08. (Ab)normal Cell Growth
09. The Children Are Time Machines
Roto Visage is the project of US based Jason Popejoy, most of whose releases are available for download through netlabels, as well as conventional releases through various labels. Labels he has collaborated with include Beast of Prey, Hydra, Hypermodern, Bone Structure, Kaos Ex Machina and Far From Showbiz. “La Muse Cachée” is available for download through the Kikapu site and through the artist’s own site (see links above). Though other releases I’ve downloaded are equally interesting.
In my opinion this type of music appeals first and foremost to the imagination, and the creation of some type of scenery is essential in order for me to able to understand it. It is more an experience than just an ordinary musical album, and it’s exactly that liberty that has grown so much on me and I have come to like it to such an extent.
This particular recording gave me the feeling of an old house, or a vault, where various experiments are taking place, and curious installations and devices are scattered around. Dust, rusted metallic instruments, sepia coloured photographs, decay, negligence, abandonment. In all of that however life exists, and that is exactly the first impression – mechanical lifeforms and testimonies from the past, blending and forming an ambiguous symphony of mathematically instilled, almost concrete sound.
While observing them some of them are activated, and the overall result is the combination of some, or all of these devices operating simultaneously. The full impression is a mixture of pure science and mechanics, at some points discreetly suggesting fragments of unsettling, torturing images, the painful melding of machine and man, of rusted metal and poignant flesh.
“Spiral Ignite Flesh”starts with a heavy industrial drone, then a voice utters an unexpected scream which gets lost in a vortex – we hear it only briefly and then it disappears. After that unobtrusive droning sounds are embellished with a melancholic, moody piano sequence fading out into the other sounds, yet becoming more intense, even nervous, towards the end of the track. Due mainly to the aforementioned piano sequence, this is my favourite track, as the contradiction is significantly distinct and increases interest.
“Somnambulist Carving” consists of a drone eventually evolving to what sounds very much like the buzzing of insects. From “Our Very Own” onwards the sounds began to draw my attention more, weirdly enough as it is a track consisting almost exclusively of a continuous, monotone drone and some organic flickers here and there, but it tunes the frequency of the brain pretty well preparing the listener to go deeper into the meditation. The drone has a sense of urgency about it, some kind of alienated alertness.
“Scratch Spit” picks up the drone where the previous track had left off, expanding a little towards the ending, the same sensation of urgency prevailing the whole time – like the sound of a siren, only distorted and slowed down by millions of light years of distance, originating in the past, the future, in an indefinable point in space and time. This is the point where my original vision of the old experiment chamber became transparent, and constellations, planets and galactic systems began showing through – but that is probably just me and my sci-fi fixation. The track ends with industrial-like reverberating sounds of metal, and “Her Veil Projected” appropriately begins with what could be described as wind echoing through a hollow, or a vast desert. In “Into Transformation” a bizarre dialogue takes place between some of the devices, and a muffled male voice interposes, to provide a scientific description of a nuclear reaction and Einstein’s theory – at least I think so, I’m not big on science. “Smudge” features a confused, distracted male voice repeating short, dissected words that never end up making a sentence, in combination with a droning tone. The final two tracks are more on the industrial side of the project, and very short, as if completing the cycle of mechanical action.
All things considered this is difficult, introspective work, requiring more than a few listens to get into its spirit. It allows the listener a great amount of liberty in forming personal, subjective surroundings to accompany the soundscapes, and that is one of its main advantages. Even as, for my part, I believe some tracks, especially towards the middle of the recording, would suffer no loss for being more concise, it is certainly a release that goes way above the average experimental / electronic / industrial heap, and well worth the download.
