Disquiet

Dale Lloyd‘s Turba / Lateral Minor is characteristic of the netlabel that released it, and just to be clear: that’s a compliment. Like many a Stasisfield Records free download, Lloyd’s recording not only keeps quiet noises in the foreground by lending them interesting surface textures and by occasionally engaging in piercing sounds and rapt silences, he also wraps those lovely ruptures around a tidy conceit. In this case, that means listening in two ways. First there’s “Lateral Minor,” a 12-minute piece that floats a variety of sonic abrasives above a throaty, base-level hum, broken up by the odd splice of vacuum space. Then there’s “Turba,” which is five distinct tracks, all under under six minutes, all with a unique subtitle (“circumstantial,” “evolutional,” “remedial,” “imitable” and “congenital”), each built, like “Lateral,” from a mix of environmental and electronic sounds. Reportedly each “Turba” track works a different magic on a similar set of source material, not that you’d necessarily surmise that from the results. Guess you’ll have to listen again, and again. Download the full set here, and visit stasisfield.com.

By Marc Weidenbaum