qip – On Ephemeral Substrates Review

qip-on-ephemeral-substratesThis record took three years of rigorous tinkering and professional craftsmanship to come to life. It was definitely time well spent because this is a seriously impressive debut from one man marauder Maciej “Matt” Pasinski who is also known for his participation in co-founding the progressive goth band Sirrah.

qip is a different beast. With a loose concept the album delves into ideas that would leave conspiracy theorists weak at the knees and give James Comey a few sleepless nights. Find it fast because the current director of the FBI might be wanting to cover this up as it’s out of this world.

Although these songs are entirely organic they move like their composed of cybernetic implants and in an inhuman way. Causing space to open portals to new thoughts in your mind and its theatrical conduct attenuates the narrative design perfectly.

The riffs inhabit detailed environments filled with frenetic industrial musings and tainted with blackened death metal overtones. Its demented soundscaping is severe and intense but it blends the styles seamlessly and meaningfully.

Nasty and ominous, the detuned electronics On Ephemeral Substrates offers are strong indicators of the tone of that songs take and augment the space intricately with brilliant colours along with the grueling guitars. Ranging from shimmering arpeggios to psychoactive strings they hold up the structure that the guitars work blindly to create.

The compositions are ready to take you on a journey through time and space. As the parts become intrinsically connected their complexity isn’t apparent at a glance but after a few trips around the disc they begin to almost create their own ecosystem of sound.

When The Matrix films explained why a perfect world doesn’t fit human nature they didn’t account for one aspect and this record follows suit in that the thin clinical production leaves a lot to be desired. It’s a filter that can be easily compensated for however.  This first album is close to perfect and seriously interesting.

8/10

About David Oberlin 525 Articles
David Oberlin is a composer and visual artist who loves noise more than a tidy writing space. You can often find him in your dankest nightmares or on twitter @DieSkaarj while slugging the largest and blackest coffee his [REDACTED] loyalty card can provide.