Electric Bird Noise

le vestibule - vestibule transitoire

Label: No More Stars Records Country: USA

"Electric Bird Noise is a project from Brian McKenzie, a guitarist from the underground drone and electronic scene in South Carolina, should there be any at all. This is the fourth effort from his solo project, and is fairly far removed from his earlier days, focusing on a dreamy soundscape of guitar-driven drones and feedback. The textures found within Le Vestibule Ð Vestibule Transitoire are largely flowing patterns, from the ethereal and shoegazey, to the spherical and electronic. Though, with this release the artist has dropped the rhythmic appeal, with no drum loops or samples being present, and the absence of any keyboard work is noticeable as well.

The first thought that will come to mind with the first half of the album, "Le Vestibule", is the ocean at dusk. With the waves sweeping in, ever closer to land, and pulling whatever it engulfs back into the sea. The guitar drones have a background of fuzz, counteracted by a seemingly endless wall of volume swells with the effect of the trademark shoegaze drone. As these waves eventually secede to dawn though, the lonely silence sets in, right before the horizon, the moment when the nocturnal lays to rest and the creatures of day are about to stir. As the day breaks the mastered criss-cross pattern becomes apparent through the speakers as the feedbacks take turns relentlessly. Unfortunately, at some point this does more to take the listener out of the experience than to send them drifting, but eventually subsides with the coming of the excruciating drawn-out arrival of the melodic drone, until it too subsides with the criss-cross reverting and taking over again, until once more, silence. The depths take hold, the victim drowns, and all previous life is replaced by a strange timed whirlwind of swishing that pummels the listener until its sudden end.

Track two, "Vestibule Transitoire", is where the real experience lies though. The music here is less ocean-oriented and endlessly melodic. Notes swell in and out of each other over minutes of harmony and disharmony, floating in and out like an owl catching mice in the night. About 7 minutes in, the music becomes less drone-oriented, though still embracing the obvious cause, and becomes endlessly more expressive and emotional. The drones pair with a loops 3-note progression that interact and bring about a melancholic cloud until the middle of the track, when the atmosphere fades a bit, the notes becoming one once more and floating along this soundscape eternally. Through the end, this track lifts us out of the sea and into the sky, into space, the spherical ending we all meet. A departure worth the wait, and an album meant for so much more than the lonely existence as a digital-only release. Thankfully, and nothing taking away from No More Stars Records, Silber Records picked this one up for a CD release. This is one no droner should do without, especially those of you looking towards the more expressive side of music, and not simply for the bleak and loveless."-Heathen Harvest