Suzanne Ciani – Voices of Packaged Souls LP (Dead-Cert)
Experimental electronic composer/groundbreaker Ciani gets Votel’d, first with a collection of her more accessible works and now with a straight reissue of this nightmare, recorded in 1970 for a gallery opening in Belgium and released in an edition of 50. As someone with early and constant access to modular synthesizers, Susan (as she’s credited on the scrawly silkscreened cover) was enabled, driven to push them to their limit, and that she does at key points throughout this work. Each cut is given a spoken title in treated English and French – simultaneously and creepily – before the synth (or other recording/sound source, or both) is unleashed. The pieces for “Heat” and “Cold” come early on and are some of the more punishing the record has to offer, Ciani twisting the dials and sitting on the keys to build up a high-pitched, discomforting analog whine that builds in intensity and mania as the tracks progress. I was made to feel very, very anxious by “Sound of An Eye Tearing” (that’s ripping, not crying), which is the filtered and muddled sound of an infant in some distress. The track never pays off, thankfully, but having heard similar cries at home in the past two months, it made all the hairs on my arms stand up in fear. Side 2 doesn’t pack nearly as hard of a punch, particularly with one track featuring the sound of what we’d believe is an old man masturbating, but by that point, Ciani has done her damage, and it’s a fine, if perfunctory, cocktail of then-new sounds and disorienting presentation. Those who found a wide and considerate selection of sounds from her recent Lixiviation comp on Finders Keepers will end up with a real beast on their hands if they seek this one out. I guess it’s also good that the crate-digging within Andy Votel’s purview has not slowed down, and has opened itself to a number of non-musical, non-beat-oriented confusers such as this one. 700 copies, foil-wrapped sleeve. (https://www.facebook.com/DEADCERTrecords)
(Doug Mosurock)
