It is beyond question that any sonic microcosmos engendered by healthily hyperactive Thomas Bey William Bailey is destined to satisfy the desires of those who seek uncurbed alterations in auditory intensity and electroacoustic destructuring that either galvanizes or unsettles, depending on the receiving subject. Bailey’s work in Metaphysics of Autonomous Shadows not only fulfills but also surpasses his customary standards in exploring the domain of temperamental dynamics and uncommon/dismembered timbres.
Among other things, the album represents an overt homage to some of the pioneers of musique concrète, not disguising a huge respect for their renowned techniques. While these methods may reach a limited degree of newness in someone else’s music, they are still given a new lease of life in Bailey’s hands. Here, the composer fearlessly ventures into uncharted territories of psychoacoustics, injecting each track with a sense of unexplored potential and several pinches of appreciated venom. The treatment of vocal constituents makes pieces such as “A Vicious Circle of Passive Acceptance, A Passive Acceptance Of A Vicious Circle” rise above the ordinary, giving them a quasi-supernatural, peculiarly enchanting character.
Also remarkable is the stretchiness defining selected metallic/synthetic resonances, their unfathomable qualities bathing in surrealistic hues. Rather aggressive jump cuts through shifting aural landscapes inform a highly functional process of absorption. The entire program gives the idea of a carefully crafted conceptual paradox; we’re prompted to disentangle its mysteries, or simply bask in the richness of these sounds. Boredom finds no shelter, for every minute reflects a commitment to discovering and learning.
Bailey continues his many-sided quest for the acoustically unforeseeable, stimulating the convoluted network of one’s sensory faculties and emotional receptivity, leaving an enduring imprint on our (ir)rational organization. His constructions resonate vividly outside the spheres of mere entertainment, intermittently evoking specters that linger long after the final echoes of this misshapen non-reality have dissipated into the ether of the subconscious.
MASSIMO RICCI. TOUCHING EXTREMES. 