9.16.20 by Ryan Masteller

You’re supposed to see stuff with “Four Compositions.” That’s right, it’s music for the eyes – each of these four untitled pieces was conceived with a multimedia experience in mind: “for film,” “for media,” “for stage,” “for installation.” But no matter how hard anyone tries (and trust me, Medina/Walsh REALLY tried), you can’t get a tape deck to project any video, so we’re just going to listen to this stuff instead. That OK with you?

It should be. Medina/Walsh is Josh Medina and Paurl [sic] Walsh, whose “Vault of Angels” LP on Debacle Records is spectacular. “Four Compositions” is a sonic assault of blistering ambience – no lazy, relaxed atmospheres here. The duo presents a challenging improvised and manipulated four-track set, the guitars and electronics impossible to differentiate from each other. It’s all an onrush of mood, a modern classical exploration of whatever the heck I was intended to see. What was I intended to see??

Instead, I’ll have to use the back of my eyelids as the screen and allow the duo to shoot me off into the space behind them. From here I can project my own visuals, and despite my distinct lack of imagination, I can absolutely see colors and lights along with this. In fact, as the final synth score ebbs and flows across almost twenty minutes, I’m plopped in the middle of science fiction – not a science-fiction film, mind you, but the literal concept of science fiction, where structures are smooth and functional and energy is 100 percent sustainable. It’s like the future we wish we were living in (maybe, depending on your take on sterile environments), only suggested in sound form.

This one just dropped on brand spanking new label (run by Josh Medina) Obscure and Terrible on August 17, so get your hands on it before some collector puke starts sniffing around the Bandcamp and starts scooping up all the copies for resale on Discogs.