Ben Frost
A U R O R A
26 May 2014
Mute
4 stars out of 5
I guess since Pitchfork really liked this record I should
review it, right? Well, they ranked Taylor Swift above it, so I’m not so sure
how any of us can take them seriously anymore. Regardless, Australian-born,
Iceland-domiciled minimalist composer Ben Frost has given us a delightfully
abrasive electronic record in A U R O R A,
his tenth or eleventh LP, depending on if you consider soundtracks to be proper
albums or not. But, is it truly minimalist? No, Frost has drifted away from the
genre and into harsher techno territory, somewhere between Tri Repetae-era Autechre and… well, Ben Frost.
For a good idea of Frost’s modus operandi, check out “Scant,”
a melodic and uplifting ditty, and oddly inspirational—inspiring in the way
that one might find a soundtrack for a Hugh Hudson film about Olympic runners
to be. It’s a completely distorted image of the song, like a photograph viewed
through multiple lenses, each with cracks, chips, and other imperfections. And
it’s those imperfections which are the point. Things might be about themselves,
but life is about the lens through which one views those things. Less obscured
by distortions but equally moving is “Venter,” a track which attests to Frost’s
love of more traditional techno, albeit a version of techno that is more about
emotiveness than ass-shaking. “Sola Fide” is reminiscent of a CD-skipping
experiment by Oval, though Frost’s layers of noise are purely intentional
rather than accidental.
So yeah, Pitchfork got one right, for once, though A U R O R A is a brazillion times
better than 1989. Frost has given us
an album that has the potential to shift tectonic plates, should other
producers decide to follow his lead. Otherwise, this will be one of those
records that stands out as a unique and unparalleled experiment, successful in
execution if not terribly influential.
reviewed by Richard Krueger
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