Diskette Park – Radiant Covenant
Radiant Covenant
Diskette Park
Album
Signalwave
Liam Murphy
November 20, 2024
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A warm and welcoming voice greets us at the beginning TRIUMPH. A British man describes the antiquated beauty of a Triumph motorcycle before we crash into instrumentation. BONNEVILLE blasts a loose, organic drum loop towards the listener followed by a chaotic blend of bass and horns. There is a beautiful sense of vibrancy encased in the tumultuous noise. The bass pokes its head out of the shrouded sound, leading the instrumentation along a sonic narrative. BONNEVILLE works with collaborator GEO METRO to create a full and decaying sound. Slowly breaking into chopped samples midway through to then burst with renewed vigour into rich instrumentation, the artist layers an incredible amount of sounds on top of one another while still keeping the song melodically engaging.
STAY INSIDE, STAY ONLINE begins with low slung funk instrumentation quietly playing behind more bike talk. It is not long until we dive back into the glitched instrumentation. Melody lines bleat and squeal under the pressure of a transposition, meshing with samples at a more comfortable pitch range. The track judders heavily as BONNEVILLE stretches and warps each sound. Again, this beautiful choral nucleus bursts through the dissonance every now and again. The voice twirls in and out of the falling stalactites of glitched sound, long emotive notes emanating from deep within the maelstrom of the track.
The instrumentation of MOOD CONTROL is further impressively deep instrumentation. BONNEVILLE doesn’t seem scared to distort and warp anywhere in the frequency range. This causes each track to judder incredibly, as artifact sounds swipe wildly. The track is covered in a warm fuzzy distortion, as if the wavering air between us and the heavenly cityscape billows with heat. A saxophone croons throughout, holding its own against the heavily effected texture, its notes finding their way out of the sonic rubble.
FINE MESH FILTERS launches into a smouldering sample as a saxophone-led refrain pulses, glitching and jumping slightly. Like a video of a beautiful sunset distorted and damaged beyond repair, the instrumentation is breathtaking but flawed and uncanny at times. Throughout this heavy sampling, BONNEVILLE and second collaborator MAD GEAR manage to keep the track on task. The track plays out incredibly well for the amount of torture and manipulation its been through. A fast-paced drum line drags the melody with it as it dives and ascends sporadically. All of the corruption is too much and the sample finally gives way, crumbling in the hands of the producers. Out of low-end rumbles a slightly out of tune saxophone dribbles. It starts to feel as though the sampling methodology that is undertaken is not a methodology at all, but a permanent stasis in the world of BONNEVILLE. Even when the music ducks out of being intense, it is still put through the wringer of digital manipulation.
We end on BONEYARD. The now comforting voice of the motorbike enthusiast leading into thundering drums. Hypnagogic voices bark and spiral out of control before we come to a slow moving drum sequence. Again, BONNEVILLE doesn’t let a single moment pass in peace, as each piano note and hi hat trembles under the pressure of the glitched atmosphere. The artist constructs a loose, free-form feel as the drums keep time for the warbling cacophony of brass and voice. Beautiful moments of harmonisation are shown to the listener, only for BONNEVILLE to snap them away instantly. Things are brought to a screeching halt as the glitches slow considerably, disappearing into the ether of the stereo field. Organs wail, caught in momentary glimpses of stuttering sound, before fading.
BONNEVILLE melds hardline manipulation of sound and texture with a tremendous ear for cadence and melody. By all accounts, the songs should fall like a building without foundation, crumbling under the pressure exerted. Instead, the artist’s insurgent precision unveils some really beautiful moments of chaotic melody.
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