Razen - Regression

Brussels-based adventurers Razen return with another bracing show of psychic communion, this time for the Marionette label (Valentina Magaletti, Pierre Bastien++). While still positioned around the core duo of Brecht Ameel and Kim Delcour, they've once again shifted the wider ensemble line up, now inviting Will Guthrie and Paul Garria to partake in proceedings. The result is typically zoned-out and explorative. You learn a fair bit about sonics and textures with these kinds of records, relying as they do on relatively unconventional instrumentation and instinctive performance. Utilising harmonium, celesta (me neither), winds, reeds, hurdy-gurdy and various types of percussion, the four set their controls for the fourth world, overlapping tones and vibrations with Hassell-esque disorientation. Guthrie's presence is a real coup, leading the improvisations in unpredictable rhythmic patterns, the gamelan influence of his other work rendered in hazy etherealism, at times a little reminiscent of that great Valentina Magaletti & Marlene Ribeiro record, Due Matte. Razen journeys into new terrain again and with it provide another great addition to the world Ameel and Declour have so thoughtfully brought to life.