RUSALKA – Base Waters.

RUSALKA – Base Waters – Album/Download – Absurd Exposition – 2019 – Absurd Exposition AE34

https://absurdexposition.bandcamp.com/album/base-waters

http://www.rusalka.org/

RUSALKA, is the Vancouver Canada based project of Kate Rissiek and has been active since 2007.

The album’s first track Sinking Blood Deep begins with a massive, deep distortion that has noise going off over the top of it. The intensity of the distortion is impressive; even on its own. The sounds on top seem to repeat themselves for a period until the main distortion seems to explode and take prominence and shift. It is as if the sound destroys itself in order to move on, in some ways this organic process occurs throughout the album.

I have frequently spoken about Noise Wall a lot on this blog and keep going to the term ‘Deconstructed Noise Wall’, this track in parts has those features, in that it builds up to thick density whilst allowing individual elements to still have clarity. This then leads to the breakdowns that allow minimal elements to thrive for periods of time to play off each other until the work builds up again. There are cycles like this continually woven into the work.

Water flows and splashes to Reflection Underneath Waves until it is eclipsed by what I would call strained humming that dominates like the mass of distortion did on Sinking Blood. As the drones strain to their breaking point and begin to distort the drama is high, only to be added to as hissing noise plays over this. Reflection rises in intensity gradually and confidently, sometimes the tracks sonic language is very minimal. Shifts and interruptions play with the listener as if to keep your attention focussed – the work is in control of you.

Cutty noise that takes the form of broken high frequencies and chopped distortion begins to lead the work midway through the second track as if forming a more violent passage of sound that builds and ends for the water to return and bring an end to the album.

I don’t see this as a continual session, there seem to be individual passages of noise worked into each other to form the bigger picture of each track. This has been very well thought out and conceptualised, it ties in very well with the water ties to the character of Rusalka. The deep emotion shifts and with the rapid changes in sound and delivery, nothing stays still for too long -this is an amazing album.

I was meant to see this project with MK9 and ANTIchildLEAGUE, sadly the show got cancelled. The slightest thought on what the show might have been like just blows my mind away. I have discovered several what I would call outstanding ‘Alpha Female’ noise projects this year, this is one is as great example of that – thanks for this Noise Karma, I am very grateful for this day.  

Nevis Kretini 2019.