Drawn with Shadow Pens

Yves De Mey's 2016 release for Spectrum Spools is a slow-moving album of creeping, buzzing alien soundscapes. The nine pieces were all recorded in one take and in mono, which is remarkable considering how layered they are. De Mey typically builds up ominous drones and clattering textures, occasionally striking and attacking with more pointed sounds. At times (such as "Xylo") it seems like he's creating random crackles and bursts, but the sounds start to fall into their own abstract patterns, revealing more control and precision than it might initially seem. The album contains too much abrasive, upsetting distortion to be classified as ambient, but the rhythms are slower and more subtle than most techno. Instead of being the focal point of the tracks, the beats seem to anchor the squirming, drifting masses of sound that grab the listener's attention. ~ Paul Simpson