Desensitized: Chaos In Premonition
Spotted Peccary
One of the more interesting things about the music Deborah Martin and Dean De Benedictis create under the Desensitized name involves seeing how the distinctive identity of each artist plays into the collaboration. Without wishing to treat the project too reductively, it could be characterized as a convergence of his focus on electronic gear (digital and analog synthesizers) and hers on natural instruments (clay ocarinas, flutes, Tibetan bowls, Taos drums, Guatemalan rain stick, Apache deer claw shaker, etc.). Certainly the lines are blurrier than that, yet the musical result does suggest a rapprochement of sorts between their respective realms. The music that results isn't an oil-and-water proposition but rather a satisfying fusion that reconciles the acoustic with the digital and the ancient with the future, something the press release captures in the words, “From asynchronous perspectives comes sonic synchronicity.”
Chaos In Premonition plays like a continuation of the sound they established on their 2020 Desensitized debut, Hemispherica Portalis (Portal of 1000 Years), and that's no bad thing. Inspired by the mysteries of the afterlife, the new release presents nine ethereal soundscapes that—especially in light of the creative practices many artists were forced to adopt during the pandemic—one might presume were created remotely but were, in fact, recorded with the two working in the studio together and sculpting the material from improvisations. Consistent with that, the music exudes spontaneity in the way it mutates from moment to moment. As both of these sonic adventurers have been operating in the absent-electronic realm for decades, they're totally comfortable collaborating in such a live environment.
Deeply atmospheric, the recording wends its sixty-four-minute way through dense electronic sound fields, the mood at times serene and at others turbulent. The music whooshes and rumbles like some elemental geological force. The collaborators' high-level tone painting abilities are well-accounted for in the title track, which advances from a wondrous intro packed with flute flurries to high-velocity electronic activity. “Immortals and Their Graves [Sacriligonus]” stands out for the swirling vortex generated by De Benedictis's Mayahachi flute trills. Whereas insect chirps and stridulations evoke a night-time ambiance in “Crevices in Dark Places [Anexplicora],” vocal hums by the duo amplify the peaceful aura of the celestial lullaby “Sleep of Innocence [Embulata].”
The material isn't without a rhythmic dimension. An underlying pulse lends “Abundant Time [Stemiostratamos]” shape, for example, as string plucks appear alongside ticking clocks (shades of Pink Floyd!), shimmering washes, and engulfing drones. Chaos In Premonition is at its best when the natural timbres of the acoustic instruments are at their most conspicuous; it's in these moments that the material truly marks itself as a Desensitized production. Witness, to cite two instances, how much character shakers, bells, and drums add to the otherwise whooshing “Mutations of the Highest Order [MOTHO]” and how much a tribal drum beat and flutes distinguish “Logic of Expression [Praetoreum].” Ultimately, the bio for Martin accompanying the release could well stand for a description of Desensitized also when it characterizes her music as “offering crystal clear visions and magically compelling voyages through an inner realm of visions, ancestral legends, and timeless places.”December 2022