Arrows – Voyage
6.9.15 by Mike Nigro

Ever think about the pieces of sound that get thrown away after first takes are cleaned up, edited, and mastered? The clicks of amps turning on, buzzing from old gear, spit smacking around in the singer’s mouth – all these and more all get nipped, tucked, and squeezed out long before most tracks hit the duplicator. That’s fine if it’s what you’re going for, but what if there’s good stuff in that scrap pile? If I were to guess, these orphaned sounds might’ve crossed Arrows’ collective mind once or twice. Their sophomore effort (following a sold out C30 from Digitalis from early last year) “Voyage” on Crash Symbols is full of snaps, crackles, and pops (and buzzes and hums, for that matter) that most engineers would have smoothed out long ago.

Now that’s not a knock in the slightest, because this Montreal duo (featuring Canadian tape scene heavyweights Fracesco De Gallo [Hobo Cubes] and Rémi Boudrias-Dussault [Velvet Glacier]) has whipped up a mighty fine dose of creaking, groaning, minimal dub-inspired tracks. Take a listen to “A2” below, which lays down a bed of slow n’ low cello-sounding drones, while the upper registers are taken up by the sound of ghosts playing marbles in the next room (that’s my best guess, at least). Another highlight is “A5,” which is a little closer to your traditional dub techno, but in a way that makes you feel like you’re standing outside the club in the rain listening to the music through the walls.

Of course, that’s just the tip of the iceberg (or Velvet Glacier, perhaps?!? Anyone?!?) – “Voyage” is a deep dive into all kinds of bumpin’ warped zones, featuring low register rumbles, off-kilter sample cuts, and squeaky detuned synths. On paper it might sound like a disparate listen, but fear not, it’s all woven together by skilled hands with a charmingly backwards sense of rhythm.

100 copies of Arrows “Voyage” C27 will start shipping on June 16th. Take it for a test ride below, then preorder your copy from Crash Symbols.