Since his earliest releases back at the start of the decade on labels such as Hydrant and the now-defunct Merck Records, Austin, Texas-based electronic producer Richard Bailey (aka Proem) has certainly emerged as one of the most steadily present figures currently operating amongst the burgeoning US IDM scene. He’s also something of a creatively prolific character, this latest album A Permanent Solution through California-based IDM specialist label representing his six full-length release in total in just over seven years. From perhaps the very outset, it’s immediately discernible that the predominant moods and themes explored by Bailey haven’ changed dramatically from those traversed on his preceding 2006 You Shall Have Ever Been album on Merck, with the fourteen tracks representing far more of an aesthetic continuation than a departure.
In many senses, A Permanent Solution comes across as a summation of Bailey’s explorations as Proem so far, as well as a “classic’ look back at the development of the IDM genre. All of the genre’ hallmark elements are firmly in place, the juxtaposition of soft-focus brooding background ambience and sharp, crunching breakbeat rhythms immediately calling to mind comparisons with any number of similar practitioners, the production focus falling upon the sorts of digitally pristine landscapes that have easily become IDM’s stock-in-trade. While A Permanent Solution doesn’t exactly push any boundaries, it’s Bailey’s development of themes within the genre’s well-established parameters that really impresses here.
Ghostly, floating harmonic moments such as the loosely percussive “Deepmagix’ call to mind the sidereal sweep of lunar occultists Coil as much as they do IDM peers such as Plaid, while the elegant circular piano-led arrangements of closing track “Social Pirhana’ resemble nothing so closely as Phillip Glass. Highlight moment “Dual Carrier’ meanwhile drags proceedings away from the drifting ambience that predominates throughout this album, with delicate piano melodies and sharp, zapping electro rhythms calling to mind latter-period Severed Heads as cut-up and stuttered vocal samples thread through the mix. While A Permanent Solution doesn’ exactly show Bailey smashing any boundaries, it’s certainly a more than worthy addition to the n5MD label’s impressive body of work that’s sure to please fans of Proem’s established aesthetic.
Chris Downton
