Yes, we do live in interesting times, although we don’t often hear that phrase; we’re more likely to hear of difficult times, challenging times, harrowing times. The U.K.’s Dragon & Jettenbach split the difference, approaching their music from opposite corners of the room. On the one side is the ambience that launches the album and reappears throughout; on the other is the foreboding electronic pulse. This influence first appears at 2:38 of “The Anticipation of a New Lover’s Arrival,” creating curiosity about the type of lover; is this a cyber affair or a date with a sci-fi/manga fan? Either way, the frisson is palpable.
The timbre turns industrial on the eight-minute standout track, “Not Invented Here,” a drone swirling behind synthetic patterns. We suspect this would be a great club track, played as loudly as possible, stopping just short of distortion. The duo makes a wise decision to withhold the electronic patterns in a semi-ambient breakdown, exposing the drums and the drone.
It’s hard to identify the areas of juncture, as each solo artist treads a dystopian soundscape. Take for example Dragon’s latest effort, the unrelenting, noise-driven Between Here and Nowhere on Adventurous Music, which finds beauty in desolation while creating a claustrophobic atmosphere for the listener. This nearly beatless excursion suggests that Dragon contributes the textures; but “Oscillingus,” from Jettenbach’s Things Once Bestowed, is only a few beats away in density. “Re-Sanitized,” from the same collection, is the closest in timbre to the IDM of Interesting Times, but even this piece has a dark ambient introduction. This leads to an unusual question: how do two dark artists, working together, grow lighter? The answer may be the joy of collaboration, which brings “A Subtle Shift in Emphasis.” In the slower, subtler “Grey Area,” the title is both a description of the artists looking out and the listeners looking in.
“All is well with my life. It is. Fuck!” DJ Kate Bosworth (no relation to the lesser known actress) has fun with the voiceover on “Fate Amenable to Change.” Her words portray the tug of war between polarities, not only in Dragon & Jettenbach’s music, but in society and in self-analysis. Are we well? We are not. Yet no matter what the outer conditions of a person’s experience, something inside strives toward life, leans toward light. The finale is elegant, even tender, yielding impressions of brass and strings. Interesting Times is dark, but it’s not bleak; even though the cover is black and white and grey, some color can’t help but bleed through. (Richard Allen)
a closer listen 