Forging the metals of chromium synth waves, liquid breakbeats, and steely kickdrums, Kessler proves himself to be a highly original soundsmith in “Ambivalent EP.” Released by Shall Not Fade spearheaded by Kieran WIlliams, the notable UK label has also released an accompanying music video for the track “Vrieselaan.”
The organization of this EP reflects an ambivalence of its own. The A-side tracks are lighter, with a focus on ambient elements, melodic vocals, and enchanted accompanying rhythms suitable for introverted headphone listening. Vrieselaan’s opening kickdrums, however, announce a B-side that takes a dancier turn, developing darker, more nuanced emotions.
“Only a Fool” is the most stunning work on this EP. Indigenous drums, wind instruments, and sounds of a crowded market street transports us to a distant place. Sprinkles of white noise invoke nostalgia. In the middle of the track, from a performance of the play Cyrano de Bergerac, a voice declares at the peak of his defiant monologue, “No thank you! No, I thank you, and again I thank you!,” after which he pronounces, “I’m too old to change.” This line cues rising pressure from a thickening rhythmic groove until a resounding kickdrum breaks through the texture converting potential energy into kinetic as we disintegrate in the duststorm of a trance. A thin cello melody gently closes out this evocative, turbulent journey.
In “Vrieselaan,” swirling, underwater synths and vocal ornaments get interrupted by a dry piano interlude, and a breakbeat hook takes the bait. Kessler’s selective use of sweep filters paints arches through which we glimpse this highly ornate, baroque-like soundscape. There is so much to listen to that, at times, Kessler gives us only cross-sections. In the middle of Vrieselaan, there is a dialogue between two women–perhaps a therapist and her patient–who disagree about what ambivalence feels like. A kind of heady, pointless conversation prompted by raving into early dawn hours. Moonlight Branches, a watercolor version of UK garage that betrays the influence of Burial, where beats are filtered to seem to chatter in a wintery sleet. Using three against two hemiola Kessel creates a fluid phrasing of synths that bounce above scattered rhythms, escaping any sense of a 4/4 structure. Fans of Objekt will certainly enjoy this track. Breakbeat rhythms, when blended with the sonic extremes of the celestial and the local, concentrates the extremes of the human condition into noise. Amidst so much choicelessness, we can still hear agency in the variegated chaos of breakbeat rhythms. Eddy Kennedy’s Ambivalent EP shows us what that sounds like.
Go listen at: Bandcamp
-Lina Xing
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