Corporate Park - Exchange.

Corporate Park – Exchange – Virtues – LP – 2020 – VTUL001

https://www.virtueslabel.com/

https://corporatepark.bandcamp.com/

https://senglish.bandcamp.com/

         1.    Disconnected.

         2.    Intimate Precision.

         3.    Evidence.

         4.    Love Letter.

         5.    Delusional Visions.

         6.    Losing Myself in Dark Eyes.

         7.    Fade Out, Loena.

         8.    Over Dinner.

Exchange was the debut release by Texas duo Corporate Park in 2009 on the now defunct Sexkrime Arts label, this was run by Alex who does Climax Denial; it is now given the full vinyl reissue treatment on his new Virtues label. There have been seven releases by Corporate Park in total since their debut, they are still active today.

Rhythmic machine gun pulsations play alone until a warped, screamed vocal pierces through everything. The vocal grabs the listeners attention as it is continually warped and twisted, it also sounds pained and inhuman – the vocal is turned into an abstracted noise. This coupled with the choppy rhythm make an impressive combination, WTF am I hearing? A more digitally backed beat kills this and takes precedence, Intimate Precision is cold, the spoken vocal comes in with an emotionless delivery that ties in with the Germanic greatness of Haus Arafna - this contrasts the opening track well.

Evidence displays complexed beats and ties in with another vocal warped beyond any recognisable dialogue, it just echoes across the track like a ghost. Further bleak Electronica forms Love Letter, the vocal is noise again, I don’t know what it is saying as the synths kick in, again demonstrating a complete lack of emotion, this feels like the soundtrack to murder on a cold night. Echoing electronics give us Delusional Visions, this repeats itself and radiates ominous vibes. Whispers introduce a concise rhythm pattern as a French female vocal whispers and talks at speed as it is joined by synthesizers. This all continues until we are left with lone whispers in our ears.  

A nocturnal beat and spoken vocal forms Fade Out, Loena, subtle electronica forms a loop behind this. The album constantly has the feeling that it was created in a lonely building extremely late at night because played at midnight this album makes perfect sense. Bleak shufflings and field recordings show a different approach for the last track Over Dinner. The looped noises, samples and mumblings feel like being held hostage in their nightmare.

I like the minimal beats and the noise they make out of the vocals a lot of the time, throwing in occasional dialogue to break up the abstraction stops the album getting repetitive. Exchange demands and holds the attention; you are stuck in the Exchange – I felt I couldn’t go until the album let me. The methods used are simple and effective. Looking for more info on the duo didn’t really deliver much, only some rabid live performances and further evidence they have continued to progress these methods over the years.  Exchange is an obscure gem, a slab of cold Texas weirdness, I can see why it had to be reissued.

Army of One 2021.