phorous: the devil's element

phorous
timelessness
(elintseeker sounds, 2006)
www.phorous.com

this is the first cd release by phorous. i have not heard much by the band but liked their track the glowering enough on the for good! compilation to check them out on myspace. the e.p. works as one continuous mix. the title track, featuring eswandy of the death of cinema, sound like a dark ltj bukem x underworld song with mellow vocals, sheets of ambience, faraway guitar solo, all layered over some call-and-response breaks and tabla beats. leading directly into the second track, all paths lead to you offers more breaks and floating synth tones, before gilles de rais breaks the flow with its start-stop rhythm pattern and crumbles into shadowgraphs, a heavily reverbed duet between eswandy and linda of lunarin. remixed by kevin of mizeryfree, their vocals seem to rise out of darkness and reach towards the light of the stratosphere. the last two tracks are reprises of timeless as a radio edit and a beatless quiet version.

worthy of special mention is the simple and beautiful artwork designed by kitchen (aka the design unit formed by the sound artists aspidistra fly). composed of pictures of treetop, badminton court and blue sky, the landscapes match phorous' soundscapes rather well.

p.s.: phorous' online debut album is available for free download at their website!