Review

Furtherset

The Infinite Hour

-ous • 2023

Music can make things disappear. For example, the unbridled belief in the best of all possible worlds. (Mostly during puberty.) Or innocence. (Also, mostly during puberty). And in case anyone thought William Basinski’s »Disintegration Loops« was all about loss and music—it’s nothing of the sort. There’s always a bit of loss. This is also the case on the latest album »The Infinite Hour« by Italian musician Furtherset. Over six tracks he explores his relationship with the theme of sound. He feels the loss, but music is also a way of overcoming it, as Furtherset said beforehand. »It’s an elegy«. There is no depth on »The Infinite Hour«, rather different sounds attract and repel each other. Everything between drone, experimental and ambient. Sometimes on a very matter-of-fact level, sometimes much more stirring. The loss, a space that expands. Endless hours, circular melodies. Can we hold on to this? That would at least offer certainty, but it would be a pretty big deal for this album. Eternity as nothingness and nothingness as eternity? These six tracks offer no answers. Just the feeling that there might be something. Or maybe not. In the end, everything revolves around itself anyway. It’s an unsettling and wonderful album.