Bleep

After a revival of interest orchestrated mainly by Rabih Beaini and the trilogy of archival releases on his excellent Morphine imprint, Philadelphian electronic musician Charles Cohen returns with his latest full length Brother I Proved You Wrong since the 1988 visionary release Music For Dance And Theatre. As expected, Cohen’s weapon of choice is the legendary Buchla Music Easel, an instrument the American has mastered inside and out and that is capable of creating ethereal sound environments such as the fiddly, new-age inspired opener ‘Cloud Hands’ or the arresting, multi-layered ‘Visitors Of The Sacred Mountain’. Although, Cohen is at his best when given the freedom to improvise on a greater time plane, no more so than on ‘Sacred Mountain’ – a minimalist piece that slowly gathers pace, discreetly adding more and elements to draw us into its hypnotic wake. The unique sound palette of the Buchla is joined by Cohen’s characterised dialogue on ‘Mankind & Mannequins’, which adds an extra layer to the texturised synthetic gurgle, whereas closer ‘Go Deeper & Listen’ tops a dense drone with a nimble repetitive motif.