A thing called “Normal Music” by Visszajáró and Gustavo Jobim
February 24, 2013
As promised yesterday,
a note on something ironically titled “Normal Music” by Visszajáró
(László Lenkes and Ákos Czini from Serbia) and Gustavo Jobim (from
Brazil). It is an instrumental album made up of four tracks, each
nondescriptly titled “One,” “Two,” “Three” and “Four.” Each piece
carries on for just over 10 minutes each.
If you can bear the first track, there are rewards on this recording,
made on synthesizers and piano. As banal as these instruments may seem,
this trio goes to extremes to create a form of musique concrète
recalling the work of Stockhausen. The album opens with piercing
screeches that sound like the perfect soundtrack for the climax of a
horror film that ends on a hopeless note … for 10 minutes. There is a
swirling melody in the din that grows higher and higher pitched as an
undulating chorus of din rumbles and shimmers on and on and on. For the
finale it fades away, and the tune’s only three pleasant notes on bells
close out the piece, like some twisted little gag.
If the first piece may induce headaches, the second piece offers pure
relief, though barely a melody appears. It is more an experiment in
white noise. It thrums and pulses like some hidden machinery in the
walls. Halfway through it downshifts, gradually, sounding like a trip
slowly inward and deeper into sleep. In fact, this feels like externally
induced biofeedback. It may do the trick for insomniacs looking for
some sonic assistance to relax into sleep. There are a few, rare
sprinkles of light piano trills, but always dominating is a breathy
rhythm of electronic synths.
The other tracks are similar in spirit, but also different enough to
reward adventurous listeners. For those intrigued by my description of
this experimental drone music above, here is the full album to stream
and/or download for free. Click through for more from these artists:
–Hans Morgenstern