Whote, aka Thomas Watkiss, must record his music at a really low volume. Otherwise he’d be deaf by now. Align sees Watkiss serve up nine cuts of sonic terror, pushing sound at you one track after another. There’ an over-abundance of distortion here, and as such this is not a gentle listen. Compositionally, this is essentially nine tracks of the same thing.
“A Stone Forum’ kicks off with a growing distortion, which eventually blooms into itself, dissappearing as quick as it began. “The White Hour’ proceeds ina much similar fashion, albeit over the course of 4 minutes. An ominous synth rumbles beneath shrill distorted guitars, as the mix is devoid of nearly all mid range frequency. “Align’ sees the same formula utilised again, building gradually and then dissappearing rapidly. “Our Hooves’ sees a clean(ish) guitar open with a simple refrain before waves of distorted guitar swell over like a wave. “Whoreborn’ sees much of the same happen, although it happens in reverse, opening with distortion before giving way to a clean refrain, before distortion builds again and closes the side.
On the flip, “Son of the Morning’ has just enough synth textue and restrained guitar to prevent it sounding like everything else on the record. And instead of the distortion simply being a wall of noise, there’ actually intelligible riffs amidst the din. “The World Beneath Us’ moves like a heaving slab of drone, in itself a planet of noise. “Asleep In the Last Years of Light’s gives the only respite here, a brief glimpse of non-distorted drone, and quite an effective way to close the record.
Although I’m a fan of most things drone related, this wasn’ really my cup of tea. I found it to be too exhausting aurally (I’ve used the word “distortion†10 times in this review), since the mix is mostly composed of low mid and sub frequency, mixed with sharp top end distortion. Clearly, this is the intended sound of the release, and shouldn’ be considered a “flaw†as such. That considered, this is taxing to listen to. However, the white vinyl it’s pressed on is a pleasure to look at.
Nick Giles
