Original Artwork
Mark Clifford of Seefeel and Scott Douglas Gordon of Loops Haunt mesmerize with 12 otherworldly artefacts on their new Editions Mego release as Oto Hiax
Oto Hiax is Seefeel’s founder and long-time member Mark Clifford and Scott Douglas Gordon, the wizard of abstract, hip-hop indebted hazy IDM, otherwise known as Loops Haunt. The duo is surprising, but not entirely unlikely as throughout the music we notice a number of familiar sensibilities overlaying. Seefeel’s works border between electrified shoegaze and the airy sensibilities of classic Warp IDM, while the Loops Haunt sound is more of a collage that toys with various genres, often placing them in different contexts to craft his own playful and somewhat haunted soundscapes. What both artists find in common, however, is the emotional texture of the sound. Oto Hiax seems to continue this strain of mellow, moody and sensorial electronic music pursued and cherished by the likes of Mark Van Hoen, Clifford and their various projects. But at the same time the Oto Hiax sound is depersonalised and puts touching and powerful emotional textures into a surreal world - both affectionately human and strangely unhomely, similarly to the genre-bending compositions of Loops Haunt.
The pieces on Oto Hiax’ eponymous 2017 album play according to their own rules and pursue their own tendencies. The track titles are evasive and don’t overtly suggest or impose specific narratives, thus reminding the traditions of golden-age IDM, where abstract titles hid touching textures (e.g. early Autechre releases). The sounds are the only familiar references that guide us through this alien landscape. It is as if the bright melancholy and digital meditative qualities of IDM of the 2000s were channeled anew, rethought and reconstructed through the addition of reflections from our contemporary surroundings and experiments. The album has a dreamlike vibe, reminiscent of Rene Magritte’s illustrations of the subconscious. Even the cover has a trace of this feel - the strange objects placed as raindrops frozen midair. It is difficult to identify what they are or place them in a mundane landscape, yet they retain something of the familiar and are not entirely alien. The music is similar - it garners an inexplicable affinity, as if you’d been listening to it in a past life.
The sound maintains a balance between rough, sharp patterns and soft swelling pads bringing to mind the finest moments of Seefeel’s “Succour” (e.g. the sublime and drifting nature of “Creeks”). “Fist” is some of the most heartfelt IDM, reminiscent of Autechre’s attempt at creating an alien love song.”Thruft” is a nocturnal drift with concrete industrial patterns overlaying the ambience. Some of the tracks (e.g. “Hok”) have a more abrasive metallic feel. However, the diverse textures seem to complement each other in the same way as silk might cover rough-edged, glossy iron structures. This pleasant contrast is persistent throughout the entire album and in a way reminds Clifford’s works as Disjecta.
“Oto Hiax” seems to resonate with the world around us, but at the same time it is capable of transporting us somewhere else. It transforms our inherent emotional patterns into unfamiliar shapes, structures. These tracks are like beautiful otherworldly artefacts that we can relate to in our own personal ways, forming our own subjective narratives.
Oto Hiax 2x12"
A1 Insh
A2 Flist
A3 Dhull
B1 Eses Mitre
B2 Creeks
B3 Bearing & Writhe
C1 Littics
C2 Thruft
C3 Lowlan
D1 Hak
D2 Hok
D3 Loyal Odes
