Intertoto - Siccar Point

A Closer Listen

Geology and music often operate in symmetry; we tend to write of “sedimentary layers of sound” and “geological shifts.”  In January, we reviewed Paleo Soul, a rock album by Washington geologist Barry Walker Jr.  This month, we turn to Scottish musician Intertoto, who references the pioneering work of James Hutton while creating electronic pieces that imitate their corresponding landscapes.  The key to both the geography and the music is change, though for obvious reasons the music shifts much swifter than its subjects.

“Raw Lunar Concrete” opens the set in sedate fashion, referencing theories about materials that might allow construction on the moon.  This immediate sci-fi angle tips the listener into speculative thinking: not just the history of the land, but its possible future.  The album takes off with “Condor Launch,” inspired by the RM Condor Marine Base in East Argus, home to numerous squadrons since its opening in 1940. Suddenly, Siccar Point becomes a techno album, but the artist won’t remain there for long.  After the appealing club vibe of “Cloud Chamber,” which shifts to the adjacent field of particle physics, the variety of timbres begins to increase, preceded by that track’s gradual recession.

“Fold” features LabLab and dives into dub, as if mining the boulders and discovering previously hidden minerals.  “Metallic Veins” is calmer, imitating the imperceptible shifts of metamorphosis with tiny rivers of electronic sound.  In one sense, the track is the opposite of “Condor Launch;” in another, it uses the same elements, but slowed, thinned, rearranged.  This and “Redox Dub” are the most intriguing cuts of the set, despite being the least immediate; to listen is to experience a sense of discovery.  The closing “Foraber,” based on Hutton’s eureka moment at Siccar Point, splits the difference between ambient and electronic, lacking only the drums that would make it a club cut. The addition and subtraction of elements throughout the set is its greatest asset, highlighting the impact of slow, incremental change.  (Richard Allen)