seven

I'm still trying to figure out how many of Mechanoise Lab's projects are actually just different incarnations of T4L, the label's prolific founder, but I have a feeling that the majority of them are. The Last Day is a one-off project evolving out of the Spit Soundtrack, a reverse soundtrack of improvised, atmospheric pieces designed to actually inspire film visuals.

The memorable tracks here are the quieter ones: "Starving Stars" has an eerie quality to it that provides an interesting intermission half way through, sandwiched between the quirky, off kilter tonal repetitions of the brief "Roaches" and the manipulated feedback throes of "Chimaera;" and "Layers of Dust" brings the disc to a relaxed, collected close with its drawn out, moody atmospheres.

These sounds resemble the audio equivalent of a gestural drawing: rough, spontaneous and off the cuff. Any precision is abandoned in favor of the raw, experimental alternative. Whereas T4L's noisier output as Beton Berage has a very linear, unflinching intensity to it, The Last Day is more varied, slowing down to focus more on the details, structure and mood. It still has an improvised sound to it, though, with layers of looping textures and abstract noises manipulated and molded into disquieting, unpredictable stretches of noise.