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LP
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SUBEX 164LP
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LP on translucent green. Easing in like mist off the water on a summer's morning, String Treatments is Kuma's first album for the Subexotic label. With a previous history of focusing the sonic manipulation of everything from vocal looping to lapsteel guitars, the Canadian producer has turned strings as his point of focus. The album title says it all. Orchestral instruments have been looped, chopped and fed back on themselves to create a series of whirlpools of sound. If it feels like there's a lot of blurring of things, it's because there is. Some parts of the record don't sound exactly like they're supposed to. While you may find the edges are there, things are falling apart at the seams. If you've ever watched a Wong Kar Wai film, you'll get it. Focus and collapse in a single frame at the same time. The strings are the base from which the rest of the album expands, but this allows for a plethora of directions to be explored. A pioneer of the Canadian dubstep scene, Kuma's work delicately balances on the edge between a low-end theory influenced by Digital Mystikz as much as it is by Sunn 0)) and the secular transcendence of modern composition. But at the same time, it plows its own direction. Kuma's vast collection of field recordings leave their fingerprints across multiple tracks. A broken music box stakes its claim into the heart of the album while buried vocal loops set the tone. Play quietly and drift easy. Play loud and feel the vibration.
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