Ah some nice instrumental landscape building here from two artists from France and Montreal respectively. Year Of No Light I had heard of and recognise as quite highly regarded but Thisquietarmy (note all one word) are completely new to me. YonL have no less than 6 band members to their name and have been around since 2004 releasing a couple of albums and various splits with the likes of Kill The Thrill, Karysun and the excellent Altar Of Plagues. This gives me a clue that they are going to be on the harsher end of the spectrum and I would very much like to hear the split with Kill The Thrill as the bands dabble with The Cure, Joy Division and Killing Joke covers. A quick bit of research on Thisquietarmy tells me the fact that this project is just a solo act from Eric Quach and he has accrued no less than five albums previous to this and is busy playing stacks of dates at the moment, many along with YonL.
The interesting thing about this split is that it really is a meeting of minds giving us four tracks, one from each group and two with them combining forces.
We start with the first track and the longest, they average the ten minute mark giving you plenty of time to get mesmerised by their hypnotic flow. YonL ‘Vous êtes un nada mort marchant autour du visible’ is probably my favourite track of them all and that is partly due to the cinematic style it starts with. Basically it is like being taken into a spaghetti Western as we are drawn up on an arid plain in best Morricone tradition, this is epic and foreboding and we wait for the shoot out. Who is this dead man walking around? Slow limbering and hefty pounds build along with fluttering guitar work, I am reminded of Esoteric and perhaps Ahab by the funeral doom like pace but after more heavyset strumming enters, things take a more post rock orientation. This no doubt works very well live especially with the right lighting and it has me straight in the zone, appreciating it and nodding along. There is a solid backbone to this piece and plenty to involve the listener with here and as the sound becomes thicker with bass trembling and vibrating it really does consume all finally almost imploding in on itself. The mood is lightened as YonL and Thisquietarmy merge together for ‘Une odeur que je capte quand leur yeux explosent.’ This is more about slow pulsating electronics and mad science at work behind a sort of radiophonic workshop. It creates an alien landscape and one with plenty of intrigue about it despite the much more minimalist soundscape bristling and brooding away. The electronic sounds get louder and slightly harsher but don’t expect this track to do too much and it certainly is not going to make anything explode, although it is nice to coast along to.
‘Aphorismes’ thankfully sees Thisquietarmy having a simpler song title on their sole offering. I would not say there are vocals but there are ghastly sounds that are contorted summonings from a throat being alien or demonic and spiky noises from the instruments. Things are really quite unsettling here, I have heard a lot in this style and it is a bit like Urfaust perhaps as it sets about creating weird and shrill sounds contorting from the depths of an abyss, rising and threatening to break free. What sounds like female chanting now comes up along with a dread static ebbing and occasional drum hit. It all takes structure and eventually forms into more of a linear song with a nice lone chord featuring prominently; it has done a great job of getting my imagination into overdrive in the process. Last part sees ‘Thisquietarmy at the helm with YonL and their ‘Langue de feu’ which is more of a faint flickering of flame than a tongue of it. This is maudlin sounding and quite bereft as it very gradually comes to life on a bed of distorted static before flowering in that promised fiery tumult.
After a fair few plays of this I have found myself in various states as it has all washed over me but concentrating on it fully in order to describe it all in review form has probably been the most rewarding way of experiencing it. It may sound pretentious but this is that sort of music that the more you put into it the more you will get from it. Although it is not the sort of thing I would find myself listening to more than once in a while I certainly have found this an illuminating experience.
(7/10 Pete Woods)
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