Sometimes working under his own name and at other times working as Arcane Device, which he has done since the mid-1980s, New Yorker David Lee Myers creates music using feedback systems, most of which he makes and develops himself. On this recent album “Strange Attractors”, Myers feeds a mix of feedback, found sounds and other audio source material into a series of stereo digital delay units whose parameters Myers then manipulates in real time with low frequency oscillators, sample and hold controllers, and also good old-fashioned manual adjustments to produce four very eerie, unearthly and ever-changing soundscapes. As the album’s title suggests, the various strains of sound and noise in these tracks pull together yet also strain against each other, as if to travel their own separate paths, and a tension between attraction and repulsion develops. That tension exists all the way through the tracks, adding to their very alien quality and bringing intrigue and mystery as well. The four tracks are all very lengthy as well, none of them below thirteen minutes in duration, allowing us to dive deep into their dark terrain as their sounds lead the way.
All tracks are very different in tone and mood, and you can imagine them as soundtracks to particular visual experiences. “Equability of Powers” seems very much like a journey in space, in all its varied dimensions, both small and compressed dimensions and larger, more expansive ones. “Iniquities” is a mysterious metallic droning work, steady and penetrating, but revealing a benign side to its nature as other sounds and noises dance around the central droning spine which itself changes in tone, texture and hardness. “With Perfect Clarity” is another drone marathon but this one sometimes seems a little deranged, as if bit by bit it’s falling to pieces from within and the droning sound is desperately trying to maintain a steady direction. “Yet Another Shore” has a restful and serene quality early on as its sounds glide gracefully through (what I imagine to be) a slightly misty but not unpleasant landscape with the odd bumps here and there that cause a few skedaddles and hiccups in the journey. It does transform into something most wonderfully strange, like a humble caterpillar metamorphosing into the most remarkably gorgeous butterfly with translucent wings of constantly changing hues as they catch the sunlight at different angles. No matter how many changes the track goes through, it returns to its original restfulness as though completing a cycle.
The album does need fairly deep listening as some sections can be very quiet, but you will be rewarded with a very rich sonic experience full of lively energy and adventurous curiosity. A very strange attraction indeed.