Labfield are a Swedish experimental duo who create this intriguing slightly mechanical improvised drone music. The opening piece Gin vaguely contextualises things. On one had you have the odd dose of electronics, an almost wind up rickety alarm clock, and on the other bowed strings. They are the two halves more or less, but gradually throughout the next 24 odd minutes they begin to coalesce as the density increases, and new sounds are introduced and it becomes a whole, this one whirring purring lightly throbbing highly textured drone. It’s like how you’d imagine the delicate machinery in a doll factory to operate, metallic, drony, yet also small and fragile. It’s hard not to be overwhelmed by the beauty of the textures, and it’s intriguing that the duo elect not to engage in the the kind of wooly bass heave rumbles that most drone music seems to enjoy, and instead highlight the intricacies of the textures they’re working with. In search of progression the duo then become a little more haphazard, with some jangling metal and very liberal use of something deep and thumping, signaling that the moods they achieve are quite transitory and it’s best not to get too attached.
It’s an inspired combination, Swedish guitarist David Stackenas, who uses prepared guitars and guitars as resonators as well as low budget electronics and Norwegian percussionist Ingar Zach, who offers real percussion and then sets up a whole bunch of toys in particular a couple of Indian electronic instruments such as electronic sruti box and saranghi box which are great for Eastern sounding sustained drones. This is the duos first album, a curious work that marries sound art drones with more musical though highly textured treatments as the next two tracks find the duo willing to work with conventional guitar strumming and on the final track Showa using sound art ingredients like difficult pitches and electronics to almost musical effect before building into the dreamy drony noise. The result is stunning, though difficult to take in. It’s an album that can’t be pigeonholed and is all the better for it. If you’re curious about their technique and ingredients there’s a great video on their myspace page:
Bob Baker Fish
