About a year ago we received a self-titled, self-released debut from Contemplation, a one man project from French musician and composer Mattieu Ducheine and I was rather taken with its sublime blending of prog and funeral doom and ambient flourishes. So I was very pleased to see this slide down to the lower reaches of Ave Noctum Towers where I dwell. This though is a split, though confusingly enough a split with his own dark electro ambient dub project Chrono.fixion and even more confusing two of the tracks are remixes of one project by the other from previous albums and two more are collaborations between the two projects. Which are all him. Got it? Good. Send me a postcard with a short explanation. Lord knows what would have happened if there had been ‘creative differences…
So we open with ‘Preparation Mentale’ (Contemplation). Slow melancholy, Amber Asylum like violin/viola sounds gradually fading to plucked notes, a delicate but determined sound that leads to ‘Brain Mechanics Part 1: Social Engineering’ (Contemplation again). A slowly plucked guitar dancing into almost Rush territory as a doomy riff begins to creep in. Harsh vocals and a more funeral edge harking back to the heady days of old Opeth. It’s a dense, considered piece; sombre, slow, tricky drums that make me recall Arcturus, strings that veer into a scree of long notes and the occasional flutter of keyboards around the background. It definitely has that slow death prog feel, that sure footed arrangement and touch. So good. So rich.
‘Brain Mechanics Part 2: Neuro – Pirates’ (Chrono.fixtion) has a haunting soundscape instead, reminding me of the Final Light album of last year – it trips slowly and carefully through this world with the haunting touch of the music in both Blade Runner films as though truth is opening up to you. Spoken word voice in French and again the melody of a violin, a slow, introspective waltz through a still world.
‘Brain Mechanics Part 3: ‘Propaganda’ (Contemplation meets Chrono.fixion). Spoken word (English this time) musing on the nature of the root of action and behaviour, the management and control of the masses as electronica and a sparse guitar twist together with that trip-hop style beat. A riff slides in, suddenly but oddly not jarringly. Harsh vocals too. But still the electronica persists like an enveloping mist. A sublime hybrid.
We then get the two remixes: First ‘The Contemplators’ from the debut Contemplation album done in a more Chrono.fixion dub style and ‘La Revolution n’est pas un diner de Gala’ in a Contemplation style. I kind of eel both these might have benefited from being the last two tracks if I’m honest. The dub version is exactly that and the metal version does exactly what it says on the tin, bringing the guitars in and harsh vocals. Both work well in truth but most definitely fit outside the ‘Brain Mechanics’ section.
Perhaps they are where they are as the final track is a collaborative cover of ‘Liquide’ by a band named Lab from a 1999 album Dubalgan 500mg. Way, way out of my area I bravely dared the original and it is not entirely my thing, though it certainly has a charm. This is most definitely a metallised take on a mostly minimalist electronic dub sound with noise passages. If nothing it shows how the two can indeed co-exist.
This is in essence and EP, Brain Mechanics, with bonus tracks. The EP is frankly sublime, absorbing and slowly dances the curious land between gentle and emotionally intense. The remixes and cover are like expansions on theme, to show context for Mattieu Ducheine’s broad influences and musical character and as such serve well. But they are bonuses; the bait and the reason to buy this is the first four pieces. The hybrid sound of prog, funeral doom, gentle death, entrancing dark ambient and twists of dub and trip hop are just beautiful. Can’t help feeling Ulver fans might care to take a peek at this, you know, amongst other discerning listeners of course.
Probably unique, definitely excellent.
(8.5/10 Gizmo)
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