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Black Swan - The Quiet Divide (2011)

EAC Rip | Flac(tracks) - cue - log | 228 MB | 1 CD | No Scans

Genre: Classical - Instrumental

In the Bandcamp.com era, it isn?t all that surprising or difficult for an artist to maintain anonymity. Any kind of trend is prone to an equal and opposite counter-trend, and it is a largely accepted claim that the internet and the various social networks have done swift damage to our concept of privacy. This way the occasional animated hip-hop duo or band of unnamed composers really ought not be front page news. Even more, undisguised artists ? those who still tender their given names and their undoctored photographs to every website that will post them ? offer us carefully honed personae and focus-group makeovers. Their off-stage personalities are, by definition, not what we are looking to buy.

So taking a pseudonym seems the most forthright way around the ? shall we call it* ? quiet divide.

Yet during fall and winter of 2010, it was impossible not to confuse the Black Swan moniker with a successful film of exactly the same name, or the debut album with Clint Mansell?s Black Swan soundtrack. At least momentarily. (For some of us it was not just momentary.) The commercial impact was probably nonexistent: ?drones for bleeding hearts? seems like a fairly limited niche. Some music news outlets pitched in by reviewing both albums, but frankly, if you?re born with attentiveness issues, that only added to the confusion. Being eclipsed by an award-winning film with a widely-discussed lesbian scene* A fitting start for a project that takes its name from the classic tale of mistaken identity. So one can only wonder if the follow up album, named The Quiet Divide, seeks to comment on this coincidence: that, for a few short months of 2010, the lake of tears was populated with two black swans, both accompanied by her own soundtrack, and both scores remarkable. After all, the composers may be anonymous, but it is likely that they still keep up with their own press.

We last heard from them in July 2010. The debut Black Swan (In 8 Movements) was acclaimed by the experimental music press, but received little mention in print or among the marquee music sites. Writing for Fluid Radio, Josh Atkin declared the album a ?moody universe,? concluding that it was ?a striking debut that is meticulous in its attention to sound creation.? In 8 Movements was an opulent piece of instrumental composition: a lush synthesizer gloss with controlled string work, choking tension, and some moments of true darkness. In a season that delivered some terrific ambient releases and promised others (say, The North Bend and Acoustic Tales respectively), Black Swan (In 8 Movements) held its own. No question.

Like the first, the title of this album is literal. There are large expanses of relative hush, and for those listening on vinyl or cassette, there is a very clean distinction between sides A and B. The title track opens the piece, revisiting ? but by no means borrowing from ? the yawning electronic sprawl and unapologetic background noise of the debut. It is difficult to choose favorites between the two prologues: In 8 Movements begins as majestic, even pretty-for-its-own-sake. But from its opening measures, The Quiet Divide makes no secret of its darker, more sinister intentions. Like the former, The Quiet Divide moves gradually, not in separate and distinct tracks. Changes occur with little fanfare, but they accumulate. This way the opening track is markedly different than, say, ?Angel Eyes.?

?Bleeding Hearts Alliance [Phase I]? introduces a low-volume orchestra, a manic piece for string, static and frequency, proving that terrifying compositions can arrive in the form of near-silence. By ?DxSxDxH,? the fright has transformed to heartbreak. Processed sounds very nearly form a human voice, albeit a creepy and celestial sound; one part Blade Runner, one part dirge. Gazing through the surge of unrecognizable forms is what seems to be the tremolo picking of clean-tone post-rock guitar, a haunting and innovative application, here. Side A closes with the dense and distant ?Angel Eyes.? By now the roar of static nearly obsoletes the rest: a blue-period synthesizer line; extended, remote samples of speeches and song; and a piano somewhere. The canvas is thick with angst, and the homesick listener pines for a moment of relief.

The expression ?B side? has developed some negative connotations over its lifetime, a fact that the composers appear to celebrate here. Over half of the 20-minute span is devoted entirely to noise: in this light, track names like ?Chaos Reigns? and ?White Mourning? are telling. Subsequent listens pick up slightly more complete samples nested far underneath the signal, and this is not exactly harsh white static, either (while this reviewer is far from an expert on the color spectrum of noises, it seems to lean toward the more user-friendly brown). ?White Mourning? starts the steady return toward melody, and only here is it evident that the slow dissolution of the album?s first half is being reversed during its second. It is a delicate, high-register, almost naive synthesizer piece, and an incongruous recovery, to be sure.

The title and the tempo of ?Drift Theory? remind us of the stakes: tectonic shifts, the slow movement of massive continents, the reshaping of the world. The glacial morphing from one theme to the next transforms the synth-lite of ?White Mourning? into something much thicker, and much more galactic, resembling in some ways ?DxSxDxH.? The imperfect mirrors between sides A and B culminate with ?The Quiet Divide [Reprise],? which revisits the mournful, delirious ambiance of the opening track. The journey has been exhausting, like all meaningful trips are.

What comes next from this seductive troupe* It is impossible to say. It seems fitting that a project named Black Swan records exactly two albums. And a catalog such as this one is more than we ask of most open-identity musicians. Here in The Quiet Divide, the dualities are stark and jarring: ease and tension, clutter and synthesis, prettiness and beauty. But for all of the divisions, Black Swan has delivered a truly singular piece of art.

Tracklisting:

TRACKLISTING:

1-The Quiet Divide

2-Bleeding Hearts Alliance [Phase 1]

3-DxSxDxH

4-Bleeding Hearts Alliance [Phase 2]

5-Black Eulogy

6-Angel Eyes

7-Chaos Reigns

8-Bleeding Hearts Alliance [Phase 3]

9-White Mourning

10-Drift Theory

11-The Quiet Divide [Reprise]

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