Dissever

The material heard on Emptysets album Dissever was first presented at Londons Tate Modern gallery, where it was performed as part of an exhibition about the global history of art and technology titled Electric Dreams. Like other Emptyset releases, the pieces were recorded in single takes, capturing the spontaneity and raw energy of the duos unique creative processes. Emptyset are often known for improvising on self-created instruments, and on Dissever, they returned to early hardware as well as spatial and multitrack recording techniques. Their music focuses on timbre rather than melody, often establishing a vibrating pulse and dousing it in distortion. Opener "Gloam" stares straight forward, rocking back and forth while increasing the pressure until the cycle is complete. Other pieces like "Aether" and the crushing "Dissever" are less steady, but not entirely erratic. "Penumbra" starts with clear, high-pitched blipping, then becomes contaminated, later attacking with extreme distortion. "Antumbra" is crunchy and harsh, paced in waves so theres room to breathe. "Dawn" is sickly and throbbing like the other pieces, but it does feel like theres at least some amount of glimmering light. Emptyset are still masters at creating music with minimal elements that gets monstrously heavy at times, and Dissever is as bracing and hypnotic as any of their work. ~ Paul Simpson