Ex-Easter Island Head

Some music captivates you from the first note. It’s a subjective experience, of course. But the allure of Ex-Easter Island Head’s latest album might resonate with many listeners, even those unfamiliar with the band. The glistening sounds that open "Weather" don’t require a deep dive into their decade-long career or the experimental/no-wave/post-minimalist landscape they inhabit. You press play and let yourself drift.

The first track is a rhythmic void, full of tiny sound droplets. The second builds on layered polyrhythms: the four Liverpudlian musicians excel at coaxing sounds from prepared guitars, set horizontally and played with mallets usually reserved for percussion. Here, however, much of the track’s floating atmosphere comes from the interplay between drums and electronic loops. It’s like parallax scrolling animation: a shifting, multi-dimensional soundscape that unfolds with subtle precision.

"Magnetic Language" brings a different take on the interaction with electronics. The band records vocal snippets on their phones, plays them back against the guitar strings, and captures the reverberations with the pickups. The result is far from a gimmick. Instead, it produces a rhythmic-vocal hum that bridges unlikely feelings: the abstract warmth of Nico Muhly's "Mothertongue" and the hypnotic stillness of late-period Talk Talk.

Closing track "Lodestone" showcases the album’s unique sound at its most magical. Seven minutes feel like one moment and a hundred. From the first deep and resonant note, time dissolves into a zen-like mist filled with chimes, drones, bow scrapes, and distant echoes.
For The Quietus, "Norther" is the album of the year. Laura Snapes from The Guardian describes its inspiration as "mercurial", comparing its "shimmering and eerily mechanical" tone to prominent artists like William Basinski, Colin Stetson, and Rhys Chatham. Even those new to the avant-garde will get caught in the spell of "Norther"’s harmony of opposites: shapes sharp yet elusive, vital precision, and its aethereally tactile sound.

(This English adaptation was produced with AI-assisted translation)

22/12/2024