For someone like yours truly, according to whom the human language is a ridiculously limited means of data transmission, the title Where Language Ends (danke schön, Herr Goethe) represents genuine pleasure, albeit only of the potential/utopian kind. Aware of Daniel Menche’s seriousness in regard to the use of resonant materials as fundaments of advanced perception, one couldn’t possibly fail.
The instrument receiving Menche’s attention this time is the cello, its sonority complemented by electronics. Already on a mere elemental level, a set of bowed strings oscillating over a sufficiently large sound box produces incontrovertible consequences on earnest listeners. Not to mention the players, lucky absorbers of therapeutic vibrations through the body; the latter is in fact an evolved acoustic receptacle even if many people pretend not to notice, preferring to drench a microscopic cerebrum with conceptual bric-a-brac to delude themselves into having “apprehended”. Meanwhile, their fuselage gets abused, or plain destroyed.
The refractions generated by this coalescence are unmistakably substantial: something Menche has been accustoming us to for decades now, developing a compositional style from a noise substructure up to milestones such as Leprous Drones. Although the cello’s original timbre always remains in sight, the processing enhances selected components of the textural harmony to originate frequency clusters whose reflection and radiance are continuously altered. A kaleidoscopic amorphousness witnessed in full consciousness, at once enriching us with sheer vital energy and improved brain faculties. The prospects change considerably depending on listening via headphones or speakers (loudness is mandatory in this instance). Ultimately, this is a compelling chapter in the – fortunately not yet completed – Daniel Menche’s Book Of Momentous Dronage.
MASSIMO RICCI. TOUCHING EXTREMES. 