Jabe Ledoux / nd dentico - The Electron

 Released: June 26

The Electron is a mysterious and slow work that sees Jabe Ledoux bring a certain kind of abstract percussion technique to be blended with the strange and droning soundscapes created by nd dentico. The percussion is a seemingly random assortment of tactile items including odd objects used as shakers and bowls filled with water being poured into one another. Meanwhile, deep droning basses and warm warbly tapes loom heavy in the background providing a foundation for which this oddly clean sounding found sound-type percussion plays out in unpredictable but consistent patterns. 

The album comes in two distinct pieces - “the uncreated light” and “the sound is coherent.” Much of the more oddball and random percussion can be found in the first part with those shakers and pouring sounds beginning off slowly and more sparsely. As the track progresses slowly, the sparse and jankly percussion creeps up in frequency and intensity, peaking in moment in which all the elements have increased to full intensity and then quickly break back down. It has a peculiar flow throughout as it begins to slowly unwind after this moment, gradually stripping itself back down to its original state. The second half of this experience, lives up to its name, coming through as much more focused in its rhythms. The deep hand drums used here evokes something almost primitive and tribal, resembling spiritual exercises of antiquity. The forest-like field recordings wavering around the rhythm solidify this beautifully.  I found this second part to be my favorite of the two, as it feels more… well, coherent. But also puts a nice contextual juxtaposition on the first of the two. Regardless, this brief but dense album certainly gave my brain a rather nice but conflicted tickle.