Axxonn is Ian Rogers of Brisbane band No Anchor alongside fellow Queenslander Tom Hall, and together the duo craft widescreen, post-rock informed landscapes based around cinematic sounding synths, droning textures and a distinctly dark undertow. This six song CDR EP, only available during the duo’s recent UK / Europe tour last July-August collects together two tracks from Axxonn alongside two tracks from Tom Hall and Ian Roger’s Ambrose Chapel solo guises respectively. Axxonn’s opening ‘The Second Death’ certainly aptly sets the tone for the overriding mood that permeates through this collection. The only track to feature programmed drums here, it opens gently through a dreamy fog of droning organ keys into majestically ascending post-rock atmospheres that seem coloured with optimism, shortly before sudden bursts of howling amp feedback arrive to drag things down into menacing darkness.
By contrast, ‘Nikki Grace’ opens on an icily pristine electro note with vaguely New Wave-tinged synths rippling out over clicking drum machines, only to slowly get dragged out into ferocious darkness amidst crunching guitar feedback. Tom Hall’s ‘Wor(l)ds Fall Down’ meanwhile sees things drifting out into unsettling ambience as subaquatic-sounding piano keys float against blurred-out bass tones, while Ambrose Chapel’s ‘Bulk Carriers At Sea (And On Fire)’ easily provides one of this EP’s most eerie highlights with its wander out into creepy sci-fi movie atmospheres as sudden, dubbed-out crashes of treated noise sweep against slowly trailing minor-key drones. While some of the more heavy and overdriven moments here see the duo getting a little too self-consciously doomy with the ‘evil’ settings, on the whole this is an impressive EP that offers plenty of engrossing moments over its 34 minutes.
Chris Downton
