SI011— Absent, by Hayden Thomas

SI011— Absent

by Hayden Thomas

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1.	Vacant 06:56	buy track
2.	Cracked 07:01	buy track
3.	Bloomed 07:01	buy track
4.	Absent 07:10	buy track

about

Absent comprises four recordings of live modular improvisations that explore the therapeutic potential of discordance and distortion, where ‘heaviness’ and atonality aren’t simply used to evoke anger or aggression.

Hayden Thomas, in his debut solo release, processes subtle, melodic loops in order to bring familiar sounds to breaking point, emphasising different facets of the source material. The gentleness of the raw loops is counteracted by Thomas’ harsh - but attenuated - effects such that the resultant distortion and atonality appears as a restrained force, bubbling over the surface like violent water held back by a dam.

Rather than utilising distortion to create a violent spectacle or to confront the listener with extreme noise, Thomas plays with fuzziness, decay and warped tonality - giving the impression of sounds with frayed edges and an unstable shimmering that is at once confrontational and counterintuitively soothing.

Thomas has been exploring these ideas since at least 2008 in the form of beatless drone works, and, before that, when playing in experimental metal bands.

The four pieces - Absent, Cracked, Bloomed, Vacant - capture improvisations based on two distinct musical themes. Using a custom modular hardware setup, subsequently fed through Ableton via Reaktor, Thomas bends, twists and ultimately disintegrates the original loops into four distinct new works that present varying perspectives on the way tonality and texture can alter mood in a very visceral but nuanced fashion.

This constant interplay between clean and distorted sound, combined with the extended runtime of each of the four works, allows the listener to reconcile the harsher and gentler tones, after perhaps initially pitting them against each other. It is in this synthesis that Thomas finds therapeutic value and an arresting aesthetic.

credits

released April 5, 2019

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Steep Incline London, UK

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steepincline.co.uk

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