seven

out of all bad sector releases this short 7" is my favorite one. of course, since it only has two excellent tracks, it makes it a lot easier to achieve absolute perfection.

I pretty much spent all summer under the spell of bad sector. out of nearly ten releases I have, this one tends to be the most frequent in my headphones.

I would start with “lisa 1912” that features gorgeous melody, cinematic landscape building on the background with luminous strings and small keys. at the same time we have unsettling, high-strung humming present throughout the song. it builds this amazingly visual landscape filled with textures that are both dark and melodic, organic and highly mechanized, in a peculiar low-fi fashion the band is so good at. summoning the images of epic proportions and at the same time managing to stay tender and intimate. this tenderness is all the more piercing, considering the contrast of caustic frequencies. at times the track slows down, becomes almost transparent, when only frequencies support thin aural fabric. all in all, this is a surprisingly emotional track, probably the most “openly” emotional I have heard from bad sector.

“Jackie 1954” is a lot more dramatic and significantly darker. similar to “lisa…” it features sparse, seemingly random drops of bass-saturated percussion, overlaid with low-fi squealing frequencies. a few well-laced vocal samples enhance the atmosphere. it creeps in slowly, occasionally exploding with epic splashes of tough percussion and bursts of static. constant presence of monumental strings and keys adds a soothing, elegant touch to the splendor of this track.

this release is one of the best examples of what I treasure in dark ambient. from dense pulsating textures to almost minimal soundscapes, always possessing melody and emotion, always dark and dense, creating a very visual atmosphere, the task that dark ambient was destined for.