Nocturnal Emissions / Frag - Esoteric Sedition (2021)

Frag is the musical organ of Stephen Āh Burroughs, here in collaboration with Nocturnal Emissions with whom I'm going to presume you're all familiar. Frag seems to have been a fairly noisy affair, and is a new one on me, although Burroughs was in Head of David, which should at least indicate some of the general aesthetic to be found here in so much as that it's not massively sunny. Being reasonably familiar with the work of the Emissions, it's tempting to hear the more melodic element as Nigel's doing, sitting on a church organ and moving his bottom up and down the keyboard while Burroughs hoovers the nave, or possibly just jabs a screwdriver angrily into the innards of a transistor radio; but its probably nothing so simple. What we have are twelve relatively short pieces - not quite ambient, not quite noise - contrasting drifting notation with grinding electronic texture to surprisingly emotional effect, working by means of a sort of neoclassical melancholy without necessarily resembling anything you would expect from such a description. Nomical Index in particular reminds me of Górecki's third symphony, for example.

I have no idea how Esoteric Sedition figures within the broader span of Burroughs' other work - which seems worthy of investigation on the strength of this - and while Nigel has released a ton of discs of this general type over the years, collaborations included, this is possibly one of the very best.

Nigel Ayers - Painted by Spirits (2019)

Nigel, as you will most likely know, has been recording as Nocturnal Emissions for several decades now. I'm not sure it's technically possible for a member of a one-man band to release a solo album, but here it is anyway. Of course, this is hardly the first work he's issued under the name to which his council tax bill is addressed; and for what it may be worth, I seem to recall a period during which Mr. Ayers expressed a certain weariness at having saddled himself with the name Nocturnal Emissions and the presumably industrial associations which tend to result from potential listeners failing to have read the memo; and I'm not sure whether this has any bearing on anything, or whether Painted by Spirits should be viewed as distinct from the Nocturnal Emissions back catalogue. My guess would be that a name such as is Nocturnal Emissions might be a bit limiting when attempting to extend one's reach beyond the usual audience.

Nevertheless, here's more of the quality work you've probably come to expect - distinctively identifiable as Nigel Ayers without simply pressing the same buttons out of habit. It's sort of ambient, but not quite, exhibiting that quality common to his more atmospheric works where the washes of sound never truly fade into the background, instead holding one's attention. Here the sounds seem to be derived from mostly conventional instruments and have kept most of their tonal qualities intact whilst being otherwise repurposed, so Painted by Spirits has more of a classical feel than previous releases and could probably be reproduced by a string quartet, albeit a patient string quartet. It's been a while since I listened to Henryk Górecki's third symphony, and too long to say whether there's any actual resemblance, but it at least reminds me of listening to Henryk Górecki's third symphony if that helps. As ever, and as is suggested by the title, Ayers channels rather than plays or composes in the traditional sense, so all of these assorted strings and blowy things have the rhythm of the natural world, calls heard in a forest, the metronomic creak of wood as it dries or stones cooling as the storm breaks. Considering how so much of his work tends to be of a certain type, at least since The World is My Womb, it's impressive how Mr. Ayers never quite repeats himself.

Available here.