Loscil - Submers
(Kranky)
Loscil specializes in both theme and sound. Last year's Triple Point was based on the laws of thermodynamics. This year's Submers is based on submarines. That's cool I guess, but I think maybe it's wearing a little thin.
With Triple Point, I was happy to be guided along in my listening by a unifying theme. It helped to get me into Loscil's world and allowed for them to stand apart from most faceless electronic music. Submers, however, with every song titled after a different submarine, strikes me as being a little hokey (not a criticism often aimed at Kranky bands).
That being said, the actual music here is wonderful and, yes, underwater sounding. Waves of warbley tones and ringing, echoed ticks and clicks reverberate throughout. This is ambient music in its purest form. Content to remain in the background, Loscil is very good at drawing attention away from itself. None of the sound on Submers is designed to break away from the drone and provide a focal point. Rather, all of the sound is mixed together into a big tank and allowed to ferment indefinitely.
The only thing I can't get into with this release is the lame premise for the album. I don't understand why an excuse for making this type of music has to exist. Other bands such as the sorely missed
Tomorrowland were able to create music like Loscil's that stood on its own two legs and didn't need some little theme to tell listeners what to think about while listening. I guess that this fact bothers me enough to knock a couple of points off the grade, but I still really love this album and hope that in the future, Loscil won't give me any more clues... either that or I'll just stop reading the press releases.
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