From the moment I picked up and examined my copy of Orbiting with Screwdrivers, the new release from Mecha Fixes Clocks, I knew that a great deal of effort went into the making of this album -- beginning with the packaging, which is beautiful, tasteful, and thoughtfully assembled. The album cover, which features a digitally manipulated photograph of (presumably) Michel Côté looking strikingly similar to Syd Barrett, served to significantly pique my curiosity, as did the pseudo-S&M photographs inside the gatefold sleeve and on the album's back cover.
Mecha Fixes Clocks is Michel F. Côté, a Montreal resident and member of the city's "Musique Actuelle" community, a loosely based collective of musicians with a background in jazz, avant-garde rock, classical composition, and improvisation. On Orbiting with Screwdrivers, Côté has assembled a substantial cast of musicians from this community, although admittedly the only names recognized by this reviewer are Alexandre St-Onge of Shalabi Effect and Martin Tétreault, the Montreal-based experimental turntablist who is stylistically aligned with the likes of Otomo Yoshihide, Phillip Jeck, and Christian Marclay. The overall vibe of the album is avant-garde turntablism meets musique concrete, with a small degree of minimalist classical chamber music thrown in for good measure.
The musicians recruited by Côté play piano, accordion, clarinet, and divers other brass, woodwind, stringed, and electronic instruments. It must be noted, however, that Orbiting with Screwdrivers is probably best not thought of as an "electronic" record by any means. The nature of the album is without question highly organic and acoustic. The listener would be hard-pressed to pick a synthesized or otherwise non-acoustic sound out of the mix here. Orbiting with Screwdrivers was assembled by Côté using pre-recorded sounds from the various contributors. Rather than enlisting the guests to record their individual parts specifically for this record, Côté opts, on Orbiting with Screwdrivers, to position these pre-existing contributions in such a way that they embellish or complement his own arrangements. On paper, this idea sounds potentially ill-advised: the concept of pasting in samples of classical instruments as an afterthought sounds like a trite hip hop technique. In the context of this recording, however, Côté pulls it off without a hitch, and the concept actually enhances rather then detracts, making for a delightfully cohesive album.
Additionally, Côté's decision to release this record under the name Mecha Fixes Clocks is perhaps an extraordinarily appropriate one. The album wants to be thoroughly scrutinized; but when listened to and experienced simply as background music, Orbiting with Screwdrivers sounds as if it was assembled from samples of clockwork, laid down over minimal classical instrumentation, as if the ambient component of this album was culled from field recordings of a clockmaker's shop. At any rate, the record consists of sampled mechanical sounds that serve to envelop the traditional musical instruments in a slightly claustrophobic atmosphere of organic warmth and the insect-like, clicking sound of the cogs and gears of an antique machine. Orbiting with Screwdrivers could be the soundtrack for a lost Brothers Quay film.
Orbiting with Screwdrivers meanders along dark, sepia-toned musical paths. Brooding and ominous, the record is a particularly cinematic variety of what might be considered ambient experimental chamber music. It's almost a classical analogue of the free-folk movement. Mecha Fixes Clocks' use of field recordings, unidentifiable yet organic found sounds, and ambient noise are reminiscent of some of the recordings of the Jewelled Antler Collective, most notably Thuja, who employ a similar device with their unique brand of mutant folk. Another commonality with Thuja is Côté's emphasis on atmosphere rather than melody. There is an almost palpable sensation of dread beneath many of the tracks here. Listening to Orbiting with Screwdrivers with a discerning ear is like gazing into a peaceful, serene forest within which lurks creatures that are both menacing and cruel.
1. Disability for E Motion
2. Planet Genre Specific
3. Repa's Clicking Hands
4. Mechanism's (sic) Rarely Last
5. Give My Regards to Time
6. Nano Rotary for Nothing
7. Mecha's Dance