Next we go back to Brooklyn, New York for a look at the release, “Silbar’ from Pas Musique. First let’s note the following which appears on the Bandcamp page:
“Silbar is a five track release conceptualized by Robert L. Pepper and Jesse Fairbairn during 2020. It was performed in its’ entirety at three gigs slowly coming out of the pandemic. Silbar is the Spanish language word for whistle.”
The tracks aren’t long – between one minute, twenty one seconds and four minutes, thirty seconds. But the artists pack enough interesting sound combinations in those short amounts of time. The whole release seems to be somewhat of a study between structure and improvisation, between digital and analog, between modern and retro…. even between sparse sounds and density.
The combination of sounds definitely at times gives the listener’s imagination a trip… perhaps even a feeling of a chemically induced nightmare. But there are some really intriguing moments in the recording. Take for example, the final track, “Tremors” just before the two minute mark. It almost appears to sound like some tortured animal screaming in a digital plane. If you can’t imagine that, check it out for yourself.
Imagine the members of Devo and Kraftwerk meeting when they were alot younger creating sounds that were their own ahead of their time. There’s a feeling in this release that is whimsical and playful but yet thoughtful and full of surprise.
Some tracks like “The Girl With Too Many Tops” takes the listener on some kind of space-age, computer glitch-infused trip to some location you’ve never been to nor could you ever imagine. There’s a lot of study in this release with high-pitch noise frequencies and blips often above a steady structure of mid-tempo beats. I think that what makes this release especially intriguing is not when the artists explore depth, but they show a sense of minimalism and conscience of where NOT to put noises. That can be equally effective as the density they sometimes take us to.
There’s just no way to categorize this release. And that’s a good thing. It’s pretty intriguing and to an extent inspiring if you’re an artist wondering where the next exploration of sounds can go. There’s still plenty of room for imagination. I think Pas Musique figured that out. I’d recommend this one if you are into mixtures of analog and early digital sounds in a huge bed of imagination.
The Noise Beneath The Snow 
Leave a Reply