Another excellent new release from Hibernate Recordings. Sublamp is Ryan Connor, a sound and video artist, who’s released some excellent work through Ahora Eterno, SEM, Dragon’s Eye, Friendly Virus, Pehr and Serac. According to Hibernate, ‘In Our Hiding Voice’ is “centered around the kind of listening one might engage in whilst hiding from something or someone, perhaps hiding in empty buildings, underground tunnels or dark rooms in abandoned houses…” That makes sense, because most of the pieces here involve half-heard details wrapped in warm, scuffed drones and crackles that might come from fluffy gramophone needles, faulty air-conditioning, the wind, underground water – you get the idea. At one point I was sharply and uncomfortably reminded of a childhood experience of being under general anaesthetic. It’s an immersive experience, and not an altogether comfortable one at times, but the music demands attention and concentration, and the shortness of the tracks means that none of them outstays its welcome or outlives the usefulness of its primary motif. Recommended.
