I remember a point, probably in about 1993, when I realised that if you removed the guitar ecstasy from the music of Ride, one of my favourites, and replaced it with soaring string synths/samples, you wouldn’t be a million miles from another favourite – Massive Attack. That fact does not seem to have been lost on a legion of neo-shoegazers whose blissed out washes are more commonly created with synths these days, rather than guitar distortion. Over on 17 Seconds, a blog I frequent regularly, writer Ed said, “I would once have dismissed the idea of shoegazing music without guitars as being like a vegan omelette”. He then discusses how Telefon Tel Aviv changed his views there. I’d be happy to add Sinner DC to a personal list of bands shifting that notion. Crystallized sounds nothing like the shoegaze I grew up on, but the mood and feeling it creates is wonderfully familiar.
Sinner DC are a trio based in Geneva who I’d not come across before hearing this album. They spend lots of time in the live context and this informs their music deeply. They have a good sense of when to push a mesmerising repeated motif for all it’s worth and when to switch dynamics to maintain interest. It’s electronica in the Underworld tradition, reaching for both euphoria and intimacy. Occasional vocals, which can often cripple otherwise good instrumental music, are used well – subtle harmonies giving depth to help match the washes of the music. There are also subtle uses of field recordings, particularly on tracks like ‘Golden Horses’ and ‘Digital Dust’ – one of the main devices used to suggest intimacy, contrasting the judicious reverbs elsewhere. Rhythmically, the group mixes things up to shift momentum while maintaining the mood. So ‘The Medium Is The Message’ shuffles darkly, ‘Glass Alley’ lays a 6/8 bass line over a 4/4 pulse, and ‘V’ almost eschews beats entirely. In terms of production, there is nothing mind-blowingly new here, but the group’s aims are obviously more emotional than cerebral and, to that end, their Eno-esque synth washes, 808/909 drum sounds, glitchy details and subtle distortions are an excellent blend. All the strands come together most perfectly in ‘Anyway’, with its electro-motorik drive, backwards samples and minimal, memorable melodicism.
I find myself enjoying Crystallized more and more with each listen, as subtleties emerge, moods are established and sustained, and the blissfulness the band is obviously aiming for is achieved with such apparent effortlessness.
Adrian Elmer
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