Hour (CA)

The minimal packaging of this Montréal native’s debut album is complemented perfectly by the sparse, empty sonic spaces held within. Beatless gongs of echoing nothingness drew me deep into mental inertia, as form and pattern became revealed to my subconscious through Direct Knowledge. Triplets of boinging kicks interfused with low frequency woofs, haunting sonic interludes that dissolve into vast fields of quivering treble. This is a highly original work, blockier than Deadbeat, less abstract than Jirku, evoking sensations in me similar to Hawtin’s Consumed LP, though with a distincly lo-fi, cut-and-paste approach. (Steve Lalla)