Movements in the deep of night
Dark ambient, glitch, dub and techno
Fellow Bristolian Vessel’s 2012 offering, Order of Noise, manages to successfully intertwine dark ambient, glitch, dub and techno to throw us back to those grimy Bristol moments where the stims have ran out and everyone is desperately caning the ketamine, milking the absolute last out of the depraved party that has just run its course.
Released on newly famous ‘witch-house’ label Tri Angle, which tends to represent a whole plethora of left-field electronica (e.g. Holy Other, Clams Casino), Order of Noise presumably stemmed from ideas born in raves under disused railway bridges. Its main skeleton consists of refined wobbles that make hooded heads bob combined with beats darting from quietly thumping industrial-techno 4/4 to the barebones militaristic breakbeats so often associated with dubstep; subtle but utterly danceable.
In ways, the record is somewhat reminiscent of Actress’ fantastic R.I.P. Vessel lays found sound and lo-fi samples over a darkly sparse soundscape that really forces you to focus on the minutiae of his work. Orchestral sweeps, dragged through muddy filters, similar to William Basinksi’s The Disintegration Loops; slowed down, grunting vocal samples; and short, jarring bursts of glitch noise add to the disturbed euphoria proffered.
Perhaps the most arresting element of the album is how on a first listen it seems, whilst still great, fragmented and fleeting – too broken and empty to have any drive, nearly an ambient album. As you listen again, the album starts developing this drive, small and hard to detect though it is. Beats (no matter how quiet) constantly running, layers very slowly building in density until the fantastic climax of ‘Court of Lions’. Swelling ethereal synths run in conjunction with more standard dance fare like a perfectly developing pulsing synth, dancing under and over the soft, restrained and steady beat.
As eluded to in the opening paragraph, whilst this is a special listen any time of day (especially for anyone who is well acquainted with the Bristol music and club scene), the time it truly shines is at 8am after going hard all night. Next time you’re feeling burnt out after 6 hours of clubbing and 2 hours of night buses, instead of reaching for your skins and The KLF’s Chill Out, grab some hard depressants and dive deep into the world of Vessel.
