David Kristian: Rhythms for a Rainy Season
Apegenine

Consisting of archived material recorded between 1999 and 2001, Rhythms for a Rainy Season is purportedly the final collection of IDM/electronic work to be issued under David Kristian's own name. Having produced music for more than twenty years, the Montreal-based composer has decided to shift his focus to soundtrack work while also operating under the Gentle Bakemono and Malamutant guises (the experimental drone outing The Mariana Trench and Ghost Storeys, a CD/DVD collaboration with Ryosuke Aoike, are among Kristian's latest works).

The new release's evocative snapshots perpetuate the sound of last year's Sweet Bits, though on the whole the material seems slightly more animated and wide-ranging stylistically, in essence an encompassing mini-portrait of IDM-ambient styles. While dark and gritty tremors underscore “Yuletow,” “Rainchelled,” and “Overweigh Filter,” the buzzes and crystalline tones of “Antique” suggest spacier climes. Kristian's compositions unfold measuredly, their layers gradually accreting though never claustrophobically. In general, the pace is relaxed and the mood becalmed; though throbs and swishing beats in “Norways” and the scurrying “Chorithm” exude aggressive flavour, for instance, they're anything but gabba. Spurred by all manner of bleeps, blurts, and croaks, “Mincet” and “Lorette” are textbook samplers of electronic sound design while “Collie Chargette” exudes the kind of reverberant billow much-loved by BOC aficionados. If Rhythms for a Rainy Season is Kristian's 'final' electronic release, it's a more than credible, if rather unassuming, exeunt.

October 2005