LIKΣN - La Toute Multiple [Carton Records Croix-Croix 044]

Released via Carton Records as cat.no 044 of their Croix-Croix series is "La Toute Multiple", the new album outing by the Timothee Quost-led LIKΣN ensemble which follows the conceptual approach of revealing the unheard and imperceptible sounds of wind instruments to the human ear and form them into something new with the help of close up microphones as well as additional feedback and no-input mixer techniques. The result of this conceptual venture is a seven tracks and roughly longplay piece which opens with an aptly named "Prologue" which brings on soothing Field Recordings of the outside alongside muffled conversations and distant church bells as somewhat of a collage piece alongside an occasional swell of electronic pads, crackles and heavy percussive elements of undisclosed nature to the table followed by "Un Ete, La Porte Du Crime" and its minimalist, slow moving, almost brooding, spatial and Dark Ambient leaning sonic approach, in parts resembling the sound of massive boulders scraping across the ground in slow motion whilst being dragged through humungous cave-like spaces before a massive explosion of intense, screaming and braincell-wrecking improv madness occurs whilst the "Marche Nocturne" initially indulges in adventures on the very borders of the audible spectrum paired with subtle surface scrapings and emerging sustained tones slowly evolving into an ever thickening labyrinth of unsettling darkness of score'esque quality. With "Sieste & Sueurs" LIKΣN follow a surprisingly rhythmic and slightly ritualistic, Future Tribal-induced path garnished with fever'ish flutters and ecstatic passages which bring - for some reason - Werner Herzog to mind, "Rite D'Approche" sees the ensemble on a journey into scenic Dark Ambient realms evoking memories of Alfred Hitchcock, tense Giallo and darker, hyperintense Ennio Morricone pieces before "Match E Protocole" harks back to Field Recordings of unscathed, undisturbed nature and later progresses towards nervous percussive rhythms, muffled voices and distant high frequency squealings and more sustained slightly off-kilter harmonics and a dense, detailed conversation of the seven wind instruments involved which as a single piece rolled out over the course of 18+ minutes runtime could in itself make up the score of an experimental short film whereas "Climes Et Terrain Vague" ends on a driving and spine-tingling percussive note which, once again, reveals a rather tribalistic and subsconscious take on the work of LIKΣN as an ensemble. Quite a thrilling sonic journey this is. Go check.

Album artwork on Instagram!