The Wire #199
Octavius and partner 4AM commit moving ambient collages to tape on this terrifying EP. 4AM’s production is impressively thick and swirly. Haunted beats occasionally survive the noisy squalor, though the landscape is generally dominated by fragments of feedback and rigid sheets of static. The distorted rhythms sound like genius colliding with heavy layers of sound---think Third Eye Foundation or Spooky’s “Synthetic Fury” with more tactful and economical stabs at tempo. On “A Cure,” a female vocal jigsaws beautifully alongside the jagged edges of crackly white noise. Octavius’ vocals have a bit too much conviction to be called ‘MCing.’ At times, it sounds like Ian Curtis fronting Merzbow, other times it’s Tricky bleeding. Though nobody should be allowed to use the word ‘deconstruction’ that often in 40 minutes, his paranoia and pessimism complement the release’s overall claustrophobia.
Hua Hsu

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Please note that the purchase of a compact disc also includes an immediate digital download of the entire recording.