There seem to be a plethora of bands comprised of duos these days. Even with such a stripped-down chassis their approaches are quite varied: Scuo and it's feedback encrusted bombs, Matta Gawa's effect-laden electronic ghost jams, and Lightning Bolt's distorto-flailing all immediately leap to mind.
Shane Parlowin on guitar and bass, and Ryan Oslance on drums are Ahleuchatistas, who have been working at it since 2002. Their take on the duo is of tightly constructed "melodirhythmic" songs, played with strength and skill.
Many of these pieces are dizzyingly quick stop and start exercises, like the opening "Vanished", which bears a passing resemblance to the modal models once proffered by the Sun City Girls. A kind of minimal math-rock... almost. The unison played theme gives way to spacier moments before recycling, and the whole thing fades out while a sharp drone threatens. As with other duos, sometimes overdubbing or effects are used to bring in a third voice, albeit controlled by one player. Parlowin's hands and feet must work overtime. "Future Trauma" sounds more like three or four people, with its drones and guitar explosions happening simultaneously. Changes of direction are tight and often surprising.
The title track billows up out of a haze of lazy scrape and tight strumming into a taught riff and then lays out a noisy rock-chug, vaulting back and forth from one to the other. A bridge of oriental sounding nuttiness raises the mirth quotient while remaining tricky and engaging, only to be enveloped by another BIG chord, a few drumstick clicks and a dive into more riff-o-rama. Oslance is a canny drummer, very quick with a command of the many timbres available. When riffs or modes change in the music, his sound switches too, and the effect is startling. A complete change at the snap of a finger. All this intricacy can be wearing perhaps, so we also get long moments of spacey psychedelia and songs of great beauty underpinned with fascinating drumming. "Lighted Stairs" is a perfect example of the latter. These guys are masters of the swell and hang, as well as the intricate unison spatter. Long may they resonate.
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