Skyence – Companion EP

Modularfield

The latest release from Cologne’s Modularfield label is an EP from electronic artist Jochen Mader, here trading as Skyence. It is one of the label’s infrequent vinyl releases and the 12″ format perfectly suits the atmospheric artwork of a shadowy fencer mid-lunge. The cold, blue colours and the stillness of the image evoke the dusty and romantic, yet antiquated world of the fencing room. The motes of dust hanging heavily in the silent air, the sweet smell of bougainvillea creeping in through wrought iron windows, esoteric tomes sitting on ancient bookcases.

Somehow the opening track “Companion” manages to describe this with its light drone and subtle insect sounds, changing in pitch as the light moves across the floor. The synthesized sound of a metallic church organ is slowed down and moves like it is caught in an ebb tide, a gentle rhythm that lulls. At points there is a touch of Angelo Badalamenti in the sweetly surging upward strokes and the sound of an old fan labouring in the background. It is lush and languorous, a mood which the next track “Present Perfect” thankfully continues. Here droning monk-like vocals produce a melancholy atmosphere, an inertia that even the introduction of distant strings is unable to avoid.

On side two, the feeling of being in stasis continues, but with the gentlest of movements. It is like watching the slow unfurling of a day, lurking in the shadows by windows, waiting for someone to arrive who never does. The beats that appear in “In’es Raisan” are sleepy, and although the sounds here are electronic in origin, there is something that still oozes humanity.

The introduction to “A Body Is Not Enough” changes the mood. It is deeper, slower and heavier. Beats verging on techno are reined in and stunned, their fractured phrases diced and scattered as a man’s voice, a metallic whisper, oozes long-held secrets. The phrases drift into a hazy soundscape that continues into the final track. It feels as though there is realisation here; that there is something more beyond the windows of this safe room that could become stuck in time. Outside things fall into focus, and finally perhaps the door can be opened again.

-Mr Olivetti-