Russell Haswell’s new album contains 17 audio tracks and comes with a 16-page booklet, which includes a list of recommended reading and 15 vector oscillograms. As you can probably surmise from this, ‘ACID nO!se Synthesis’ is a most technical album. An exploration of the potentials of the modular analogue synthesiser, in conjunction with electronics, pedals and a computer, Haswell employed an X-Y oscilloscope while recording, thus creating simultaneous visualisations from the sounds.
The pieces were all improvised, and it’s obvious that Haswell had a ball fiddling with all the kit to create some far-out drones and wibbles that pulsate and shudder and, every now and again, penetrate the listener’s skull with a blinding intensity.
It’s all about the frequencies. ‘ACID nO!se’ is a shade slow to get going, and threatens to noodle around without really revving up, and there are times Haswell is seemingly content to let the sounds simply simmer and bubble. But then there are points at which he yanks all the knobs and dials and makes the entire bank of electricals scream. ANS#1 is one such example, a ten-minute explosion of noise and distortion that sends synapses firing in all directions.
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In some respects, it’s hard to make a call on ‘ACID nO!se Synthesis’: Haswell is as his best when he’s really going all-out, but there are just too many lengthy passages that don’t do a great deal. Perhaps it’s more effective if one follows the directions to listen with the stereo connected to an oscilloscope...
Russell Haswell Online
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