Silence Quartet - Denial

A Closer Listen

When people feel powerless in the face of societal upheaval, it becomes more common to live in denial. This is the starting point for Silence Quartet‘s album, which translates this questionable coping mechanism into music.  The fact that these tracks were recorded at night adds to a sense of secrecy; the sideways and diagonal approach to the composition imitates the trajectory of a life thrown off course.

The “Overture” is especially brief: 45 seconds of motors, clicks, disjointed voices and a rising sense of menace.  After this, the album begins to dig in.  “Klik” offers a set of insectoid noises, imitating crickets and mosquitoes, the buzz of unwanted ideas, its seemingly random percussion like an onslaught of news updates, none of them encouraging.  Soon there are growls and gutteral yells, an explosion of discontent, followed by a gentle “no, no, no” and breathy sighs.  One would not want to play this at therapy.  “Drёma” juxtaposes a ticking clock and children’s squeaky toys, a further disorientation, as if time is falling in on itself.  Wind whistles through a tunnel; a human howls like a wolf; an industrial crunch signals danger, even as the track is drawing to a close.  “Scherzo” is pure industrial music, rife with percussion, bullets and alarms, urgent and militaristic, with a rapidly increasing tempo.  The mid-piece breakdown can be taken literally: machinery is falling apart.  At the end one hears hammer, a DIY rebuild.

In “Kaplya,” competing signals try to break through like messages from family, state, social media and international agencies, all vying for attention.  A march breaks out, signaling the primacy of the state; the volume builds to a peak.  “Prerave” and “Rave” break the tension a bit, first in flute and soft spoken word, then in the album’s most straightforward expression of IDM.  But when words start flowing backwards, accompanied by laughter, the album’s concept is underlined: a feeling of helplessness as avenues of escape disappear, replaced only by madness and denial.

While Silence Quartet is anything but silent, their very name speaks a frightening truth; in many locations, citizens are unable to speak out, afraid of the response.  The signals embedded in “Rave” are quickly squashed; the machinery stumbles again and restarts.  Church bells ring long after the worshippers have left.  Here, mood and emotion convey what words cannot.  Ironically, while the album addresses denial, it’s clear that these musicians embody the opposite.  (Richard Allen)