Greek experimental electronic producer Spyros Polychronopoulos has been involved in sound design, engineering and mastering since 1993, and currently he’s apparently completing a Phd in acoustics and noise control. He’s also something of a prolific producer, having released four solo albums as Spyweirdos, alongside remixing the likes of Snog and collaborating with an impressive list of artists that includes Alva Noto, Funckarma and Murcof (the latter of which is also responsible for mastering duties here). This latest Spyweirdos album follows on from last year’s ‘Ten Numbers’ CD / DVD collaborative set with visual artist Aris Michalopoulos, and represents the second volume in his ‘Ten’ conceptual series. Aesthetically, ‘Ten Letters’ picks up in very similar territory to where its predecessor left off, with Polychronopoulos primarily working with field recordings, distortion and high frequencies to create a collection of sparse, ambient tracks united by their distinctly tense and unsettling emotional undertow. In many senses, it’s also his most abstracted sounding release under the Spyweirdos moniker so far.
If opening track ‘S’ at first suggests a more wide-eyed and wistful listen ahead, with ripples of digitally treated noise shifting between liquid-sounding and then more metallic, grainy textures amidst sampled birdsong and resonating, harmonic ringing tones, the tracks that follow soon see the mood darkening. ‘W’ certainly carries more than a touch of the funereal as sombre bass tones grind their way against a backdrop of disembodied sounding machine bleeps and sinster drones coloured by the treated noise of guitar fretboard slides, while ‘E’ sees sampled field recording chatter being digitally scrambled into an indecipherable mass of textures as dark moody bass pads build in the background amidst fluttering, grinding electronic tones like a gathering thunderstorm. It’s certainly suitably eerie and evocative stuff on its own, but in this case Aris Michalopaulos’ accompanying visuals on the DVD serve to add considerably more context, and manage to heighten the sense of tension and emotional atmosphere generated here. For listeners with a taste for the darker side of ambient, ‘Ten Letters’ is definitely well worth investigation.
Chris Downton
