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Magnetron seems to be on a long voyage in a dark country. The duo of Steven Humphries and Xan Alexander bring out the strengths of one another's distinctive voices - and transcend the four walls of today. On Impulse Response (72'46") they marshal synthetic forces to convert electricity into colors you cannot see. Each composition builds in depth and complexity without becoming unduly tangled, creating a mood of nostalgia in a futuristic story. In its four track linear delivery of power, Impulse Response stretches and contracts the musical landscape in a simmering emotional temperature. The distant soaring ranges of chords ascend to great heights - with the power of life just below. Animated by the patter of repeating and expanding sequencer lines, each work echoes and advances, building out amidst Mellotron flutes, strings and brass. The experience becomes more detailed as synth leads speak to the heart and sonorous chords try to tally the soul. From the secret whisperings of the world, and zones of frail vacancy, to musical forms storming across a machine-made minimalism, Humphries and Alexander get the proportions just right - and pull the listener into the drama that they are living. The critical establishment never understood this kind of music, they never caught up to it, never even tried. Without the restraining view of the mainstream, we continue to fearlessly break new ground. While contemporary musicians are searching for their voice, Electronic Musicians are searching through their consciousness. They are thinkers, not just craftsmen or engineers. Our music is probably too big for the world, yet it is always fully alive to it.
- Chuck van Zyl/STAR'S END 16 March 2017 |
