CHXMERAS - Power Lines

Released: July 28

Despite presenting itself as a single long-form track, this release from Canadian duo CHXMERAS sounds much more like three tracks seamlessly blended together.  It begins soft and slow with airy pads and a very faint crackling sound that slowly becomes more prominent as it moves towards its second piece. From there, soft vocal snippets and slowly rising percussion take us into the next stage as squashed drums take over the soundscape alongside rising pads that remind me of something in between tornado sirens and the THX logo sound. That is until the drums disappear almost without warning as we are now thrown into a wobbly sounding world with a constant pulsing and abstract aesthetics strewn about around it. Errant pieces of pads are mangled and twisted around without regard to conventions, only to become more abstract and strange as we approach the end of our short but convoluted journey. Overall, it is quite an interesting ride that I would be interested to see stretched out into a bit longer tale.