Sunday 9 November 2008

Lithops- Ye Viols! ( solo album by Jan Werner from Mouse on Mars and Von Sudenfed)






Lithops, the solo reincarnation of Jan St Werner (of Mouse on Mars and Von Südenfed fame), presents Ye Viols! a collection of installation soundtracks from a number of recent exhibitions St Werner has worked on.
The project takes its name from
a genus of plants native to sub-Saharan Africa which avoid being eaten by blending in with surrounding pebbles. Pretty apt it would appear as St Werner’s project, with all its subtleties and painstaking, detail, obscures itself to create what the inattentive listener may describe as ‘background’ noise; listen closer however and the idiosyncratic features of St Werner’s work make themselves known.
Multi-Layered, fine details and the dynamics of each individual track makes the experience like looking through a futuristic kaleidoscope. Though Lithops is inevitably influenced by the synthetic, unnatural rhythm of man made technology, there is something quite organic about the record. particularly the repetition in some areas of the album; ‘In nitro’ sounds a lot like the percussive elements in drone veterans Earth’s song ‘Raiford (The Felon Wind)’ from the album ‘Hex…’
Ye Viols! As an industrial composition, is reminiscent of an aural accompaniment to Fritz Lang’s ‘Metropolis’, an ultramodern soundtrack to a visual dystopia.



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