You know that thing where the letter B has a personality, or words have textures and colours? That’s called synaesthesia. If you don’t know what I mean, then Throng’s debut, Decoherence, is as close as you’re gonna get to experiencing it.
See, there is this strange audio-visual feel to Decoherence despite it being just an arrangement of sounds. The music is cinematic and hallucinogenic. It’s like a soundtrack to those hypnagogic fantasies where you beat up the imaginary intruders that your creaking floorboards past midnight conjure. That, or a fashion show in space. Wasn’t that the theme of Wearable Arts this year?
That’s kind of what this feels like, actually. An aural representation of eclectic and obscure art. Lights, and skin, and shapes. At the hands of Throng, the sterile mechanical noise feels organic. It’s not that it's a peak behind the synths at the flesh machine controlling and contorting electricity. It’s not about seeing how the sausage is made, because this doesn’t feel like a human creation. These waves and beats feel alive. They’ve always been alive. Swelling and growing and breathing and multiplying. Throng have just harnessed them in cages so we can all have a look. And it’s quite the menagerie they have here.
The titular Decoherence with its sharp-edged polygons floating through haze.
The oppressive mechanical flesh factory of Gristle.
The shimmering and weightless levitation across a neon landscape of Ambien.
The last menacing dilapidated basement you’ll ever see in A Thousand Tiny Cuts.
The closing of the lotus petals around you on the Last Leg, as you sink into a pit of soggy rubber balls.
Now, I’m not much into electronica, or EDM, or whatever label people are throwing around these days. Enduring a 70 minute Tech House track was an experience you could brag to your pretentious mates about back in 2004, but in retrospect that whole vibe got pretty repetitive and stale. Thankfully Decoherence is several evolutions removed from the scene I left behind. It’s more of an art piece than a competitor in the race to make the biggest doof.
Being an EP, Decoherence feels like a collection of meticulously crafted and fleshed out ideas, rather than a cohesive album. Sure, there may be a 70 minute bender on the horizon, but for now it’s more like stepping into different apartments - the weirdest apartments you’ve ever seen mind you - than a walking tour of a house. A sampler, a collection of experiments perhaps. If it was meant to test the waters, then come on in Throng. The water’s fine.
Recommended for those wanting a backing track to the John Wick fantasies in their daydreaming heads. You can find Decoherence on the Throng Bandcamp.Experiments in music & motion from Otautahi, NZ.