Pechuga "Hovering Sparks" CD
[Pitchphase]
Five rather long, untitled tracks of sinister, minimal dark ambient soundscapes that carry their weight with a hypnotic lull oftentimes, changing slowly and gradually, but never varying too far from the path. Expect lots of pulsing low-end, eerie midrange drones, massively resonant density, the occasional subtly distorted texture reaching towards the treble realm, etc. Use of layering is fairly minimal, usually sticking with two to three core sounds, and that works out just fine. Each piece runs more than six minutes, some creeping up on 10 or more, but the aforementioned hypnotic qualities resulting from fairly persistent and stripped down compositions do work in Pechuga's favor. And this is definitely a fairly calm, quiet disc. Sometimes the darker side of the atmosphere takes a back seat to more of a straight experimental electronic jaunt, but the running times sort of drive things home and create something more than a mere "experiment", so to speak. There's definitely a machinated sort of quality to some of the sounds, the vibrating loop evident towards the close of the third track, for example. The last composition is the most uncharacteristic of the disc as a whole, using some heavy delay/flange effects that make the dominant tones of the composition a bit louder and more active than anything else herein, even creating some unusual dashes of flitting high-end amidst it all. A surprising closer, but perhaps my favorite track herein as a result! The CD-R comes in another of Pitchphase's matte brown sleeves with deep black printing. Here the patterns are a little more minimal and iconographic, but still possess lots of tight overlapping lines and loose associations with psychedelic imagery. A sticker and foldout page of artwork are included inside, as well as a quote hinting at the root of the "Hovering Sparks" title of this work on one of the inner flaps. Another strong release from the Pitchpase camp, certainly making me curious to hear more from this project. It's hard to tell based on this release alone whether or not this minimal approach is the common road, or just something explored in full on this individual recording. Who knows? It works, regardless. (7/10)
Running time - 43:04, Tracks: 5
[Notable tracks: all are without titles]
Pitchphase - http://www.pitchphase.com

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