Wyndel Hunt - Sunshine Noir

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4...according to our Phil on Thu 11 Feb, 2010.

This guy is a new name to me though I'll start by saying I like his name. It's a good sturdy name... which is something all experimental artists should have. 'Sunshine Noir' is apparently his 4th album on Dragon's Eye but this is the first I've heard. It starts off super intense with the driving noise burst that is 'Sumud'. Weirdly hypnotic, you get sucked into his world very quickly indeed. It's essentially intense drone music... some parts of it are more sparse than others. As far as drone goes this is relatively busy with plenty going on. It's just very droney indeed. The album builds on this as it creates some wonderful sound structures and atmospherics. It's a very involving listen and I suspect it's about a million times better with a set of headphones late at night when you're on your own and probably feeling a bit nihilistic (like you probably are on most evenings....). Spend some time with this as it's one of the strongest releases I've heard from the Dragon's eye camp in a while!

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1. Sumud
2. The Drop
3. Invisible Hand revealed: Iron Fist
4. Deckle
5. Niche destroys Market
6. Plot Device
7. Sunshine Noir
8. Free Dissociation

Inside instantaneous openings of titanic surroundings and pinpointed views, with patchwork surroundings of silver, black, and grey, Wyndel Hunt's Sunshine Noir is in its length and breadth both streamlined with sharp contours and accented by the deep buzz of dissipative control.

Hunt’s fourth recording on Dragon’s Eye builds using attention to details and dynamic control in coordination with restraint and pattern-weaving; the sounds move toward a seemingly paradoxical goal of constructing disappearing monoliths of sound. Compositional methods referencing collage and descriptive phrases such as aural painting, sonic architecture and sculpture are apropos yet not exhaustive--the proportion and volume of the pieces combined with their sudden disappearances make them simultaneously tangible and elusive.

While epic proportions are kept in check with fuzzing, mechanical lines, some of the greatest moments in Sunshine Noir are where the sounds drop down below the edge of perceptibility--the subdued quality of the recording is enhanced in all the apparently empty spaces—making the moments where little more is left than a whisper where Sunshine Noir burns brightest.

Sunshine Noir was recorded throughout 2009 in Seattle, Washington, using only Ableton Live, Reason 2.5, a Casio MT-520 and a guitar. All tracks were composed by Wyndel Hunt, except 'Deckle', which was constructed by Christopher DeLaurenti. With this small arsenal of materials, the resulting compositions are an astounding achievement of sculpted geography allowing the listener to imagine the process of construction and its completion as a singular movement.

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