Description
Echran is the new project of its former main man Davide Del Col, ex “Ornament” (at Korg synth) teaming up with Fabio Volpi (laptop and voice) who has worked over the last few years with the Milanese audio/video collective Otolab. Starting in 2003, the project join two different kinds of experiences: one is gloomy ambient oriented, the other is more noise-based with a psychedelic attitude. Echran’s dark electronic soundscapes are not that easy to pigeonhole: there’s a constant metronome-like pulse which could be compared to Pan Sonic or some best dark industrial bands, but could not venture to define this “rhythmic electronica”; at the same time, though, it’s not really ambient or droning. There are tracks like “Monitor B”, for example, has a skeletal dub throb floating in a mist of piercing frequencies which could remind of old school industrial, while “Formant”, with its echoes of analogue cosmic music, could be an updated piece from a soundtrack by John Carpenter. The whole disc has an obsessive and stifling atmosphere, better fit for paranoia-tinged urban travels than for home listening. Echran plays also with visuals, performed live with an experimental approach, influenced by abstract and cinematographic languages.
GENRE: INDUSTRIAL, EXPERIMENTAL
