String Theory is an incredibly impressive monolith of a compilation. At almost three hours in length, it possibly won’t be listened to in its entirety regularly, but each of the two discs have the power to worm their way deep into the subconscious and stay there.
Built on minimal, slow moving drones, the majority of these guitar based instrumentals have a weight and assuredness to them which are mesmerising. On the first of the two discs, the guitars are generally simple to discern, utilising more or less traditional tones and playing techniques, though pushing the mood to extremes of warm, enveloping atmosphere. Chris Rainier begins with one of the least drone-based pieces in ‘You’re A Distant Voice On The Radio’, sounding like Serge Leone and a slide guitar learning the joys of subtle digital signal processing. Ian Wodley is also notable for the spikiness of his improvisation in ‘Oslo’, with both these tracks offering a slight foil to the rest, though still fitting comfortably. Outside of these two, the entire compilation is built on barely shifting subtlety. The second disc finds guitars sublimated completely to the mood, with the typical attack and decay responses of guitar sound processed to oblivion. Northatlantic Audio place a simple pulse under layers of never shifting spectral drone in ‘Silver Arrow’. The effect is massive. True Colour Of Blood plasters cavernous reverb (a common technique across the discs, it must be noted) across a single, complex chord in ‘The Significance Of Secrecy’ to celestial effect. What also becomes very striking across the entire compilation is the lack of aggression in timbre. In spite of noise being a significant factor, there is not a single sound which would provoke physical discomfort in the listener. This is inviting music, as far removed from both the macho aggression and the self-centred showmanship, with which the guitar has become synonymous, as is sonically possible.
Names well known in the Australian underground such as Shoeb Ahmad, Undecisive God, Chris Smith and Seaworthy rub shoulders with a plethora of lesser known artists – all of whom have something to add to the scene. A scene it unmistakably is – that 30 different artists can sit alongside each other with such a united focus of vision is testament to that. This is by no means a criticism, however. This is a scene marked by regular short run CD-R releases, giving a snapshot into what an artist is doing in any given month, rather than the grand statement of the ‘album’, a mythology built up over the last 40 odd years of rock music. This attitude demonstrates the desire of the artists to treat their work as a painter or sculptor may, happy to move in small, regular, published increments rather than making a single grand statement every few years. And, like those painters, the close-knit group of like-minded artists who are paying attention feed off each other, happy to share an aesthetic. When this process is working well, as it obviously is here, the strength of each others’ discoveries and processes are utilised. So, in spite of the similarities between most of these artists, there is never a sense of the derivative. This is a remarkable compilation demonstrating a continual sense of mutual exploration.
Adrian Elmer
