Here’s a heretical thought to begin with: for certain playful experiments, the much-maligned CD can actually be the more forgiving medium. When the duo Soisong, a collaboration between Ivan Pavlov and Peter Christopherson, appeared on the scene in 2008 with their EP qXn948s, it wasn’t just the password-like title that raised eyebrows but also the packaging. The thing was wrapped in intricately folded paper that you practically had to destroy to hear the music. The music itself was suitably strange.
A year later came their debut album xAj3z, housed in a heptagonal cover designed by Pavlov that required a working knowledge of origami to open properly. For the first vinyl edition, Dais Records has now opted against reproducing this elaborate packaging, which has the clear advantage of encouraging you to focus more closely on the music itself.
That music remains distinctive in its hyperreal blurring of the lines between digital and acoustic sounds. Guitar tones echo over pixelated, jagged basslines, a piano is prepared on a computer, virtual voices sing, and at times there’s the addition of the »real« drumming of Dieter Kern, also known as DDKern. As was typical of Pavlov, aka CoH, and the late Christopherson, who died in 2010 and brought his experience in (post-)industrial bands like Throbbing Gristle, Psychic TV and Coil, the pair offer no levity here. Instead, they explore ominous atmospheres: a trip through seductive danger, crystalline depths and twisted desire.
