Scatterheart

Taking programming cues from Autechre, sound design hints from Funkstörung and mood enhancement bySpeedy J, Boysen's second album as Hecq is a major addition to the Hymen roster of dark-bient acts for whom every day is a good day in the spice mines. Like the best IDM/industrial composers, 22-year old Benny Boysen knows exactly when to break from the glacial ambience and foreboding moods to deliver a sonically well-crafted and physically satisfying break. If even for only 32 bars, the shuffling industrial break on opener "Fdk" is enough to make you clamor for more, which Boysen delivers on the rumbling "Coup de Lune." But you can't expect the four/four to always come and rescue you. "Flood Me" drifts in baroque directions, with chiming harp-esque melodic runs that turn evil and overdriven by the end, lapsing into another bottomless pit of white noise on "Midnight Generator." Cold and cavernous again chills the hairs on the back of your neck before releasing into the computerized rotation of "Trivia." Wash, rinse, repeat. The occasional sampled interlude offer even less release, since nothing sounds more terrifying than the human voice when the proper amount of static and treble are added, even when it's taken from something as innocuous as the film Clerks. This is cold damp music for rusted machines left to fend for themselves, and I believe in this case that is a high compliment.