What is first noticeable about Slow Flow Records is its focus on simplified contrasts of space, volume, and temporal division. Compositions use a drama of small gestures effectively, expanding to fill the emptiness of a vast blue backdrop with absolute stillness or shivering with movements so quick they elude even the most concentrated gaze. The ears are often gripped by churning drones that smokily evoke the image of a massive presence slowly waking from an ancient slumber. The first awakenings are those of “Through the Square”, a selection from Pawn, which sets the austere, ethereal experience of the piece against a warm breath of feint electronic tones, serpentine commentary, and the eternally spreading echoes of a new morning.
The faces that appear momentarily in the rest of the albums tracks represent rising names in these corridors of experimental electronica – among them, Celer, Ian Hawgood, Entia Non, Segue, and label manager Ryonkt himself. Each incessantly initiates new excursions – from drone, to glitch, ambient, and sound collage – and yet the dynamic of the group feels natural. There’s no leading or following, no commandeering or passivity – just a gradual snowballing of ideas, continually peaking as a gloriously momentous stream of sound. Peer into Celer’s window, for instance, and one finds them abrading a wealth of detail into a piece that flows intriguingly. After Elian’s composition accrues layers of guttural grit and becomes somewhat more dissonant, Segue has the drizzle of fuzz periodically recede to reveal lonely ethereal melodies amidst a humming landscape of ambience. The album draws out a wealth of imagery. Indeed, compilations have rarely sounded so full of life.
Max Schaefer
