denseland: like likes like

There is a certain type of music that echoes the feeling of a dark promise. It triggers anxiety, and it is precisely this effect that makes it appealing and as fascinating as a Cronenberg film. Denseland's music oscillates precisely within this suspense. Hanno Leichtmann, Hannes Strobl, and David Moss have already released an album titled Chunk (2010). Now they bring us Like Likes Like with the Berlin label M=minimal and seek to combine everything that belongs together. Rhythmic textures, rudimentary melodies and a clear renunciation of harmonies develop into a lesson on the subject of minimalism. The songs produce a deep and chilly effect, and beyond the rhythmic structures appears David Moss' magical "sprechgesang" (a vocal technique somewhere between speaking and singing). His voice seems to whisper directly in one's ear. It creaks, it grumbles. It then expands and shapes into a sort of singing as ghostly voices breathe in the air. It is precisely this vocal that widely contributes to a feeling of discomfort on Like Likes Like. Almost all repetitive music operates on the principle of hypnosis through repetition. Sometimes a song needs a few minutes to unfold its hypnotic effect; on the contrary, Denseland needs only a few seconds. The centrifugal force in its downbeat repetitions becomes practically unavoidable. Denseland's members depict mastery in opening new frontiers, employing minimal resources with maximum efficiency. Descriptors such as "slow-motion funk" or "minimal spoken-word noise techno" do not live up to the trio's dark and energetic tracks.

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