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CD ReviewArchitect's Eye – “Motel Architecture”By Marcus Pan
This is their second CD, the first having been Decline (on it's own). Since I seem to have both CDs on this disc, I'm only going to concentrate on Motel Architecture (tracks 1-8) since Chris Eissing reviewed Decline way back in January 2003(2). Why the group decided to put out both CDs on one disc is Utilizing brash rhythms and airy soundscapes, Architect's Eye open up Motel Architecture with Rebirth. The track gives you a heart-beat in the womb feeling as it washes over. Serial Victim becomes a funky track with a great simple bassline and very subtle background dirges. Vocals are whispered and poetic and added techno metallics strafe the bass rhythm into a cacophony of sound...on one hand it can really berate your senses yet on the other it's quite an interesting effect. an interesting unknown...but I like it. An interesting touch and a nod to their roots, I suppose. Sanctuary drops the funkiness all together and begins a plodding path through an aural emptiness punctuated by occasional rhythm movements which burn into a heavy handed drum solo. Again Architect's Eye practice a very strong wall of sound approach with added metallic strafes and increasingly loud arrangements. It's this heaviness than will make or break Architect's Eye in most people's eyes. Some will find it annoyingly brash while others will enjoy the strength it provides. Thorns takes a more classical approach at the outset, creating string ensembles that join and embrace the metallics rather than strafe against them like previous tracks. While it uses a very nice dissonance effect between coalescing notation, the track itself doesn't grow to powerfully heavy levels of sound. Motel Architecture, namesake of the album, returns us to a strongly dissident track with interesting rhythm and raspily whispered poetics again. The outlying bells when applied to the strong string synths become a strange experience with the difference in notation and the pounding rhythm is freelance-like in its refusal to join with the rest. The remake of The Cure's Lullaby on track 7 takes the song into very ploddingly slow territory. The severity by which an already ballad based song is wound down to a barely moving track really robs from the original and I surely prefer the Cure's version to Architect's Eye's version of Lullaby. Architect's Eye is definitely something that experimental fans will enjoy as it stays on a fine line between noize and music. Other folks may find it a bit too heavy and dissonant to the palate. But if you want to check out some of the more interesting experimental, nudged into musical territory only slightly, Motel Architecture may be worth picking up. Contact Information: (1) The DBR CD Hollow Fishes was reviewed in Legends #88. |
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Architect's Eye remind me very strongly of
Deathwatch Beetle Repairman(1) from the old days...albeit with a much stronger
experimental bent. The CD I have is divided into two sections. Tracks 1 through
8 are Motel Architecture and 11 through 21 (9 and 10 being dead tracks)
is Decline, their previous CD. Both offer similar work and there isn't
much difference between the two sides of the CD.
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