Jul 29, 2010

Review: Lorn –Nothing Else

SIS EXCLUSIVE! posted by Veronica Murtagh at 5:00 pm

Lorn – Nothing Else | Brainfeeder | Grade: A+

Isolate any single bar from the twelve tracks of Illinois beatmaker Lorn’s debut full-length Nothing Else and it’s evident he is in the right place on the roster of Flying Lotus’s Brainfeeder imprint. His dubstep-derived sounds are dark, stuck to one another in a sticky tar. They enter through your eardrums, hit your nervous system and splinter off in every direction until your feet can’t move, your fingers go numb and your mind gives in to its higher master.

Lorn is positioned uniquely amongst the ranks of his contemporaries. Nothing Else is too large to fit within the confines of genres even as broad as “electronic” or terms as general as “album”. While his peers create tracks to be released as singles, remixed by others or played out within a DJ set, Lorn’s focus is that of a symphonic composer across Nothing Else.

Like the work of Franz Schubert, similar sounds reappear but within differing contexts unfold into new animals. A single line of driving, pitched up synth (akin to Ratatat’s token sound) is familiar across Nothing Else. The trudging swamp waters of “None An Island” are made navigable by its flashlight beacon cutting the darkness and lighting your steps back towards the shore. What was a leading hand becomes an agent inciting panic on “Automaton”, jagged metal teeth zipping over a wafting line of dread coupled with heavy, erratic bass.

Most definitive of Schubert’s works was the emotional depth that thrived under the sounds produced by familiar instrumentation. The instruments within his orchestra were individuals and when they came to life they brought with them the passion and ferocity of human emotion, and our mind’s ability to transform small details into reactive feelings.

Through the plastic knobs and digital screens of Lorn’s compositional tools, he achieves a comparable end product. You never feel that you are listening to something singular as each track moves with natural spontaneity into the next. These human footsteps allow your mind to blur the edges that define “listener” as you let go, becoming an active participant in your surroundings. “Tomorrow” is an ironic title for the Doomsday that creeps with forceful motion, dragging behind a bat to wield off whatever may hide in the dark shadows of a barren urban wasteland. Your pulse races as your imagination surges with vivid pictures.

Lorn ends your headtrip in ascent. You’ve navigated a threatening landscape, your psyche put to the test, your will to survive pushing you to triumph. But the air still feels unstable and your skin begins to prickle as a cool breath from the man behind the curtain meets your ears, whispers, “What’s The Use?” and shocks you awake to return to real life, drenched in sweat, disoriented.

Shrouded from view Lorn conducts his symphony of fear. One can’t help but wonder if behind the Brainfeeder scenes Flying Lotus has assembled the ranks and chosen Lorn his protégé—and eventual successor.

http://www.strangersinstereo.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/02-None-An-Island.mp3

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