Music / Review
XKatedralFour new tapes
The powerful ambience of XKatedral label shines through again on this new string of releases by Kali Malone, Dufwa, Golden Offence Orchestra and Isak Edberg.
Through the multilayered static of drone and a minimalistic approach towards ambient sound, XKatedral’s releases manage to reach the grandeur and solemnity of chamber/organ music. Romantic undertones and a highly evocative sound, features that have been carefully and beautifully developed starting with an earlier string of releases, have become a signature of their limited tape artifacts. The previous run of tapes enchanted us with their ethereality and depth channelled through hypnotic repetition, elegant ambience and thick drones. It seems that the label has been able to establish its identity even more firmly with these subsequent releases both by staying true to its principles and searching for new angles to approach them.
Kali Malone’s Velocity Of Sleep contains three distinct pieces, which work as a gradual, mesmerizing build-up towards the cathartic brightness of the final piece, In Light of Marwa. The stark 20 minute title piece slowly unravels in its minimal beauty, as the swinging theorbo bass sounds lull the consciousness and liminal melodic traces begin surfacing, adorning the hypnotic monotony with subtle undertones. The following 1113 creates a vast space where delicate gong sounds overlap to form immense acoustic echoes. Finally, there is release through the elevating mood of the grand finale.
The cover of Dufwa’s (the duo of Mats Erlandsson and Maria W. Horn) 4 track EP Fältinspelningar från Terres de l’Ebre sets the tone for the whole release. The sepia image of a lake with swans roaming on the shore evokes a kind of Proustian feel of nostalgic reminiscence. With its balance between harsher power ambient pulsations and floating melancholia, the release reminds F.E. Denning’s excellent latest LP, Under The Linden Tree. These two records are a manifestation of post-modern romanticism, the poetry transferred into an experimental sonic form. With their vivid intensity Dufwa’s four tracks create a similar effect to an impressionist painting, where the contours of objects and people surface amidst thick and intense layers of color.
Similar sensibilities are found in Isak Edberg’s “Ondulations”, an hour-long composition of repetitive melodic patterns shifting into various modes of intensity, creating the effect of dramatic monotony, reminding the sequence of a climactic scene from some thrilling noir film stretched into evolving loops. The repetition here serves as the main focus of the sonic narrative and the piece reveals the beauty of it.
The dream team of various (not only) label-affiliated artists, the Golden Offence Orchestra presents two different renditions of Pauline Oliveros’ piece, To Valerie Solanas And Marilyn Monroe In Recognition Of Their Desperation, which showcases their collaborative potential and reveals XKatedral as an entity in which a certain community of artists has formed. Both pieces act as a touching homage to the legendary composer.
In the turbulent times of artistic eclecticism and culture mashing, it is nice to see such a coherent vision deeply steeped in abstract post-modern forms as well as aesthetics and emotion in a more classical sense. The label’s DIY approach also adds to the romance as these releases remind handcrafted sonic postcards or letters. These chilly autumn days could be just the right time to dive into this music and warm yourself.
