Small Life Form’s “Penetrable Surfaces” begs analysis by its title alone. Nearly any surface can be penetrable to some degree and there have been numerous studies (mostly by Russian scientists, interestingly enough) regarding the effects of various forces on penetrable surfaces, my personal favorite detailing supersonic heat transfer, but I think the minds behind Small Life Form may have had a different intent. The track lacks any semblance of the human voice, so the title could be an ironic adjective modifying a remotely descriptive noun; to wit, the meaning of these aural shapes is anything but decipherable.
Small Life Form make several interesting choices in the execution of the piece. For instance, its primary element is a tone akin to guitar feedback’s lower-register cousin that fades in and out at 5-second intervals and repeats for eleven minutes over slowly-shifting series of guitar thrumming, sub-bass rumbling, and static . . . and then suddenly shifts down an octave, a half-second into the tone, no less. Over the course of the 14th and 15th minutes, the repeating guitar note gradually fades, leaving in its place a sound that seems to be the same note an octave lower, but lacks a definite tonal frequency and feels more like a deep, disembodied hum.
It gets weirder: the entire repeating sequence drops altogether just before the final minute for a meshed screech-and-mechanical-grind that quickly gives way to pure feedback and the thrummed guitar, after which the feedback tone is subjected to a bit of pitch-bending tomfoolery that descends into electronic noise and leaves the guitar to close the track (itself an octave lower than that which opened the track).
Despite the foregoing, the strangest move is one that seems so accidental I can’t help but feel that it’s got to be intentional: the entire piece is composed of quarter tones that fall between D and E♭. On the surface, it’s maddening; penetrated through repeated listens, it’s disturbing in the best way.
Thanks for reviewing the track. No guitars on this piece actually, all simple synthesizer (little boxes with a few knobs) & optical theremin. The slight detuning is both natural & intentional to those instruments & builds a tension I’m into.
Fantastic, Brian! I could swear it sounds like a gently thrummed (strummed with the flesh of the thumb—is that an actual thing?) guitar, but I’m really excited about the use of theremin! And I do love me some tension.