And we’re back… …and this time, we’re diving into the murky waters of minimal/maximal electronics. Awhile back, we took a listen to that Lafidki tape, which was co-released by the Bezirk and Chinabot imprints. Well, the Bezirk label is co-run by Tristan Bath (Spools Out) and Daryl Worthington, who slings electrons as Beachers. Worthington’s no slouch, and he’s got a new tape out, courtesy of the FRM-AT label. The London-based artist recorded the contents of Language Shapes the View over the course of a week. During the Winter. In Latvia. Just prior to moving back to the UK. So it goes without saying that there’s a slightly chilly air to the proceedings.
Worthington was inspired by the breakdown of speech and communication. Words misheard or misunderstood, conversations briefly overheard and unable to be processed. He has carefully inserted brief and disorienting snippets of modulated voice recordings into his electronic sound matrices. The alien glossolalia creates the unsettling feeling of being lost in a foreign place, where echoes of unintelligible speech reverberate through the air.
“Sapir Whorf” actually begins – as far as I can discern – speechless, emerging as a complex whirlwind of textured drone. This track dissolves into “Screaming Into the Echo Chamber”, in which a dubbed out bass pulse is ridden by a ghostly syllable that echoes into infinity. “Direct the Meaning” features a writhing mass of electronic squiggles, which may or may not actually be sped up and smeared renditions of the warped vocal that closes out the piece. A lone female repeatedly chants out the title of “What You Did” against a piano throb and an electronic hi-hat, while undulating waves of drone persist beneath.
With “Language Kills the Sentiment”, Worthington pits a deranged vocal against sparse electronic chords and tones, which eventually overtake and devour all empty space. A lone chord repeatedly plays out to infinity as the piece concludes. The title track, which closes out the tape, is phenomenal. A murky dub techno piece, it’s the most resolute of the tunes on offer. That being said, each of the pieces presented carries its own form of genius, and as a whole Language Shapes the View is a compelling survey of oblique electronic music at its finest.
You’ll want a crack at deciphering Worthington’s oblique lexicon yourself, so head on over to the FRM-AT Bandcamp and make your best attempt.