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review by Benjamin Fleury-Steiner For fifteen years, Thomas Köner has engrossed himself in the worlds of instrumental music, atonal sounds, and film. A former film studio sound engineer turned multimedia artist, Köner distinguishes himself from other experimental artists in his ability to integrate melody with a multidimensional sound palette. In Köner's past recordings - such as the magisterial Uniforschtes Gebiet (2001) - compositions are presented as droning, flowing, and engrossing dialogues between field recordings and software-generated sounds. With this new two-CD set, Zyklop, Köner has, in a word, out done himself. Before getting into specifics, I find Zyklop an at once mesmerizing and engrossing listening experience. Combining quiet drones with the often slow-motion layering of whooshing or honking cars, birds, crickets, and random voice interludes, this set pulls you into a fascinating, often unpredictable sound narrative: You are not sure what will come next or when it will come, but you want to keep listening to find out! Even in Zyklop's longest tracks (Track 1, "Une Topographie Sonore: Col De Vence" is more than 60 minutes long) there is a very subtle yet constant shifting of sounds and drone patterning. "Une Topographie Sonore: Col De Vence" is an hour-long voyage into a slow-motion blending of birds, insects, rain, and heavy winds underscored by ethereal yet often muted drones. It is a thing of sonic beauty. Each passage slowly drifts by - as if to present itself fully for the listener - and then vanishes into another section. I found this stop and drift technique to be a very effective means for enabling the listener to lend their own visual or thought-induced "ideas" to the track, as if Köner were inviting us in to experience these sounds subjectively. While many artists often frenetically combine - indeed, sometimes to great effect - field and electronic recordings, Köner's approach to composing is far more controlled and focused on a bigger sonic picture. Disk 2 takes us from the chirping and buzzing of the countryside to the din of traffic jams and urban life. "Des Rives" effectively transforms the mundane world of passing cars and the clank of traffic into a patient, unfolding sound world. "Tu, Sempre" and the two versions of the title track forego Köner's patient, almost alchemical approach to combining natural and artificial sounds for a more straightforward electro-ambience. While I find these tracks less interesting then disk 1's "Une Topographie Sonore: Col De Vence" and disk two's "Des Rives," Köner does demonstrate an impressive aptitude for molding interesting dronescapes - each of these tracks present a meticulous combining of sounds without being redundant or cliché. Overall, for me what makes Zyklop shine is both its outstanding production and the utter mysteriousness conveyed in Köner's subtle approach to composing. |
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