Sci
Hi
Who Trusts Crucible? Crucible Trusts No-one (The Evergreen Partie)
Sci Hi
Something That Was Never There (Eden Gully)
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Paul Winstanley has leant his unique vision to such a wide range of projects
lately. Traditional blues unit Rent Party and folk anarchists Fats White
sit at the more conventionally “musical” end of the spectrum.
Somewhere out the other side sits Sci Hi, his solo venture of some years
standing into the pure sonography of “no-input” feedback. (Late
2004 saw a new development on a larger scale, with a highly diverting
concert, under Mr W’s able baton, by the Sci Hi Arkestra.)
Where others have taken sounds generated by electronics with no external
sonic sources to the far outposts of near-static minimalism, Paul’s
closed loop of mixer, e.q. and effects processor is turned to an animated,
dialogue-based approach - finely balanced just on the right side of fatally
unstable. His tones chatter, twitter and hum in conversation with each
other, suggesting native birds; mechanical insects; the slippery tones
of slide whistles; the skittering of tiny cells under a microscope and
the bemused murmurs of virtual swamp creatures.
His first release Nature Engine, with its regenerating cross talk was
fairly unrelenting listening, as the sounds stayed within a fairly tightly
defined spectrum. By contrast Who Trusts Crucible? Crucible Trusts No-one
seems much more colourful. After the rushing whorl of the brief opening,
things proceed with a strong sense of focus. Each cut seems to originate
from a fairly defined texture or gesture. What I hear driving these pieces
and making them such compelling listen is how Paul adjusts, realigns,
plays with these ideas.
Crucible shows the startling range of Sci Hi sonics – the static
shower of track 4 emerges from a sub-lunar hum (all Sci Hi CD’s come
sans track titles). Track 7 takes a pinch of walking bass and exquisitely
distorts it across a range of aural dimensions. When a more familiar idea
comes along, like the slow squalls of track 11, the execution is spacious
and considered.
Something That Was Never There features drier and less richly textured
environments. There’s a more brittle and aggressive tone, frayed
edges and disruptive feedback outbursts. Despite the hard core approach,
a starker backdrop highlights the sense of a personal language. The abrupt
eruptions and delicate crystal shapings assume the presence of very pure
forms of gesture – signals from some imagined territory. The formulae
(as I imagine there to be, I haven’t really checked in with Paul
on that score) are ever so mutable: at times densely encoded, elsewhere
wildly expressionistic. The range of variation is what makes for such
a fresh listen.
Both these discs clock in at over the hour mark but I find I’m more
engaged in half hour doses. There’s very little cruising space, so
they are not causal listening prospects. Still, these are satisfying documents
of unique, evolving music with my vote going for the less reduced soundscapes
of Crucible.
John Kennedy
Sci Hi contact:
edengully@yahoo.com