Eteon
Censer
X-IMG
As mentioned a little while back, the debut EP of hushed, contemplative minimal wave from Toronto duo Eteon appearing on the TBM-focused X-IMG label is perhaps less of a surprise given the presence of Matthew Cangiano of Human Performance Lab. But regardless of provenance, Eteon gets its icy strengths across in four tracks which balance compositional restraint and harmonic strength. Interestingly, the duo’s sound doesn’t shy away from modern crispness and exactitude in its ghostly pads and muted beats; ‘minimal’ doesn’t necessitate ‘lo-fi’, after all. But while the arrangements and production make for a tasteful frame, it’s really vocalist Eleanor Espiritu who gives Eteon its volume and definition. Moving between haunted and haunting (the cult minimal wave classic 7″ by Kym Amps seems a fair comp), she seems to intuit exactly when to let a note hang and for how long, creating the sort of foggy miasma evoked by Censer‘s title.
M‡яc▲ll▲
Memory Of
self-released
NYC’s M‡яc▲ll▲ was part of the original crop of post-witchhouse acts to emerge in the wake of that genre’s implosion in the late 2000s, taking that genre’s focus on slowed rhythms and foggy textures and recontextualizing them with more upbeat programming and soundtracky atmospheres. Memory Of, the project’s first release in two years is pretty much what M‡яc▲ll▲ has been doing from the beginning, although at this point any resemblance to witchhouse is coincidental; the music here is sharp-edged, deliberately paced, and integrates proggy kosmische sequences to good effect. “Invite Disaster” brings sets up a tweaky analogue synth loop for whooshing and whirring sounds to revolve around, its chord progression setting a pensive mood that is enhanced by its vocal samples. “All That is Left” throws big distorted drums to the front, disintegrating into shredded metal debris as its cymbals pick up the burden of rhythm behind its sad and ever descending melody. Not coincidentally, its the title track that most purely invokes the projects origins, using a hip-hop tempo and smokey pads to conjure that 2011 drag sound, although the brevity of the track and the increased complexity and emotion of its structure serve to remind us how far the project has come.
