The longer Jon Borges works under his Emaciator guise, the softer his recordings seem to get. Having sucked me in with Resentment, the CD he recorded for Alex Cobb’s Students of Decay label, he blew me away with last years Reflection, put out by William Hutson’s Accidie imprint. Both of those previous full-lengths fit neatly in harsh(ish)/drone territory, but in recent months the harsh edge of Borges’ output seems to have subsided. Coveting an LP from late last year on Not Not Fun was already demonstrating a preference for a smoother wave-shape and if there was any doubt as to the general direction then along came the release of a new album, titled Austere, by Borges’ flagship harsh noise project Pedestrian Deposit (also on monorail) which, while being richer in detail than most of the Emaciator material, also exhibits this shift towards “bliss / meditation / therapy “ (as Borges himself puts it). I imagine die-hard fans of the early Pedestrian Deposit material must be finding this progression a bitter pill. Even myself, having placed the Reflection 2LP squarely inside last year’s top ten was slightly disappointed to find the square-tooth edge of the Emaciator sound gradually filing itself back to tonality. With his general trajectory in mind, this 22 minute tape continues just as you would expect it to. Certainly the most tonal material I’ve heard yet from Emaciator. Two sides of sky-gazing drift, “to reach a state of peace”.
Considering the wealth of quality and not-so-quality drone musicians shimmering and glistening about in the underground at present it’s pretty hard to make your presence felt, but whether the thought of Borges’ permanently joining these ranks brings a smile or a frown, he’s clearly damn good at it. A strong tape, though if I had to recommend just one of this latest batch of monorails it would be his new Pedestrian Deposit album.
monorail trespassing
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