Émile Zener

Contraluz

Genre: ELECTRONIC, DARK AMBIENT / DRONE / METAL

Boomkat Product Review:

Gunnar Haslam dusts off his Émile Zener moniker for an ambitious three-disc journey through the Balkans and the Mediterranean, using a Serge modular system to mould marine ecosystems and weather patterns into a sort of cybernetic wash on a tip somewhere between Roland Kayn, Michel Redolfi, Robert Hampson and The Hafler Trio.

If you caught 2021's compelling 'Laguna Cibernetica' then you'll have an inkling of what to expect here. Following the work of Italian vanguards Luigi Nono and Bruno Maderna, that album attempted to map out the industrial maritime city using tense electronic soundscapes and suggestive environmental recordings. 'Contraluz' is more grandiose, split into three hour-long expanses that submerge themselves in the soil, the sea, and the collapsing modern metropolis.

Essentially an attempt to find a way to recreate economic models using a Serge modular; Gunnar treats the synth like an analog computer processing raw data, simulating weather patterns and marine ecosystems to tentatively map out the world's maritime and terrestrial economic flow. If it sounds a little dense, just take a listen to the first segment 'Corrente Tellurica' to discover acres of pure sound to lose yourself in. Subterranean electrical currents establish the mood, before eerie, stretched monastic drones nudge you into a sacred space, slowly bending into warped electricity.

Field recordings are used as worldbuilding; tangible sounds contorted into noise and feedback, dissolving into unstable rhythms and oscillating sonic blasts before returning to nature. Gong tones ring out through the detritus, layered with thick passages of searing orchestration. On the second segment 'Economisti di Mare', evocative metallophone hits become central, flooded with aquatic washes that remind us of Michel Redolfi's 'Underwater Music' experiments. In the final act, 'Isola Degli Specchi' (island of mirrors), Gunnar’s grizzly noise is placated by billowing pads that roll through rattling street sounds, dissolving into near-silence. Insectoid scratches and scrapes battle with cybernetic glitches and off-world interference, until we're calmed by ductile drones into silence.

'Contraluz' is an impressive piece of work; dense with process and meaning, but also fully immersive. If you're looking for modern concréte or contemporary synth music that's aware of the genre's rich history, it’s about as good as it gets.

3CD (3)