Sitting in my room, staring out at the rain and listening to Russell Haswell’s FACTUAL, I’m wondering which came first. Did the rain prompt me to put on this album, or did the record bring the rain along with it? If any record was going to make you question the fictional nature of pathetic fallacy, this might be the one. Few songs are more suited to wet, grey blankness than the opener here, ‘Black Metal Instrumental Intro Demo’. Little more than the sound of something being digitally stretched and an unpredictable snare drum, the fuzz that eventually creeps in suffuses the atmosphere, conjuring the genre of the title without any of its usual signifiers.
‘URBAN nO!se’ is another tone poem where the feeling is set in the title. Its rhythms whirl through an over-world of crushed noise, seeking some resolve but finding only dead ends. This is a repeated theme throughout the six pieces. Whether utilising deconstructed techno hallmarks on ‘KILLER SNAKEHEAD’ or epic fat lead sounds on ‘Rave Nihilation’, Haswell takes a vital element of some genre and confuses it, blasting it out of context and burning the remains to the ground. It’s an aggressive approach to sampling, that’s for sure.
FACTUAL may well be an attempt to highlight the lingering power of genre names to trigger ideas and associations about the music we hear. It might also be a statement of post-genre intent, using bleak noise to melt the gaps between distinct styles. ‘Record Shop Day’ is the harshest example, with nothing but the odd aggressive filter sweep to be heard through the distortion, leaving it to float strange and weightless in the darkest of ether. The closing track, ‘Sheffield’ takes this template but removes much of the distortion. It ends up sounding like pure power electronics, bringing the likes of Whitehouse instantly to mind. The rapturous applause at the end opens up the floor and suggests it’s all about interpretation.
FACTUAL is released on October 15th through Editions Mego. http://editionsmego.com/release/eMEGO+157
