I remember my first Autechre concert. It happened about a month ago; the lack of visuals was complemented by a decent attempt at making the venue entirely pitch black, and afterward, I resolved to walk with a severely disjointed gait for the rest of my life, so that I might physically give credence to my newly-established alternative view of the world.
Belgian musician Yves de Mey reacted somewhat differently following his own AE experience, and after years of semi-concurrent worshiping of the Depeche Mode discography (which, let’s agree, is mostly deserving of worship), he decided to harness his musical inspirations into something personally creative. Drawn with Shadow Pens is the Antwerp native’s new album on Spectrum Spools — out January 22 of next year — and the first revealed track off the album suggests that it’s an eerie continuation of the affinity for cold experimentalism that Mey demonstrated early on in his bona fide composer career. His 2011 EP for the techno-ish Sandwell District label (since deactivated) certainly evinces a similar tone.
And what would an otherwise engineer and active collaborator with Peter Van Hoesen know about musical tone, you say? We might also ask a snake what it knows about slithering. Those slippery fuckers.
Here’s the track:
Drawn with Shadow Pens tracklisting:
01. Prelament
02. Adamance
03. Remains Of Rays
04. Ostia
05. Xylo
06. Yearned
07. Stabbings In Fluid
08. Moinen
09. Single Patch End