crepuscular

Crepuscular Change Perspective On "Desperation"

crepuscular

Power electronics is a genre full of pitfalls. How easy it is to fall back on the old standbys: graphic descriptions of sexual assault, serial killer interview samples, and contact microphone abuse. Record to cassette, find a photo of a decomposing corpse for album art, and repeat. Male excess is so often the name of the game in a scene where everyone still wants to be Whitehouse.

Increasingly, though, the basic power electronics formula has been expanded by artists who aren’t exclusively interested in howling rape fantasies through effects pedals. Women and queers, always present but underrepresented throughout the history of experimental music, have taken the pulsing feedback and monologism of first wave power electronics and directed it inward.

Shock value wears off after awhile, but true, personal horror is endlessly affecting. Minneapolis’ Tina Dahl, recording as Crepuscular, uses this to her advantage, creating deeply compelling material that shucks the exploitative features of her genre in favor of exploring a journey through personal trauma. Her debut full-length Predation Risk depicts an abusive relationship in stark terms, with the rawness and immediacy only noise music can allow.

“Desperation,” premiering exclusively above, is a distillation of Crepuscular’s strengths. The lo-fi production, squelching feedback loops, and slow burn build to a chaotic climax will be immediately familiar (and pleasing) to noise fans. What sets it apart is Dahl’s vocals. Buried beneath the chaos is a genuinely harrowing performance that doesn’t rely on mere aggression; Dahl channels fear, malice and, yes, desperation into shrieks and howls that are downright unnerving. It’s five minutes in a very personal hell, immediate and raw — essential listening, especially if you, too, are sick to death of the often meaningless posturing so familiar to noise music.

— Michael Siebert

Predation Risk is out September 21st on American Damage. Pre-order here.

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