(2020) Andre Bratten - Silvester


Review:
André Bratten has already covered a lot of ground with his first few releases, from the percolating neo-disco of his 2013 debut to the icy electro and braindance experiments of 2019’s Pax Americana. However, it’s safe to say that anyone who heard those albums could not have seen this one coming. Silvester is a record of bleak, alien soundscapes inspired by “Silvester Anfang,” the percussive electronic instrumental composed by Kluster co-founder Conrad Schnitzler which was used as the introduction to Deathcrush, the 1987 debut EP by Norwegian black metal legends Mayhem. Bratten met Mayhem founder Jørn Stubberud at a party, and after talking about the story behind the piece, they came up with the idea that Bratten would rework it in some way. The resulting album bears little resemblance to the original “Silvester Anfang,” or Mayhem’s music, or anything Bratten has ever done. First and foremost, it must be stressed that this music needs to be given the listener’s undivided attention in order to be fully appreciated. Playing it softly in the background while you’re doing something else simply won’t do it justice. Turn it up and listen with an open mind, and it’s a fairly astonishing work. The 18-minute “Silvester Anfang” is deeply trippy, reconfiguring the original piece’s processional percussion into an arrhythmic sequence of resonating explosions and clattering echo, then drowning it in swarming, smothering drone. “Untitled 1” is just as incredible, scattering brittle drum machine beats in a loose pattern, while an agitated bass vibration darts around, and an icy drone gradually rises toward the end. “Untitled 2” is even more challenging and patience-testing, dissolving from gray hissing into near silence, with just a faint tremor audible, before an intense grinding noise (an extremely shredded, blown-out drum machine) gradually emerges. While irritating on the first few listens, stick with it and it becomes a powerful, all-consuming force. Finishing the album with a bit of deadpan humor, Bratten includes a brief choral piece and titles it “Coral.”





Tracklist:
01 - Witching Hour
02 - Silvester Anfang
03 - Untitled 1
04 - Untitled 2
05 - Coral


Media Report:
Genre: ambient, experimental
Format: FLAC
Format/Info: Free Lossless Audio Codec, 16-bit PCM
Bit rate mode: Variable
Channel(s): 2 channels
Sampling rate: 44.1 KHz
Bit depth: 16 bits