Cinchel – A Sad Study in Temporal Dissonance
1.23.18 by Mike Haley

I’m onto you Cinchel. *cracks knuckles*
I’ve figured out your little game. *cracks neck*
I see what you’re trying to do. *cracks all seven Chakras*

“A Sad Study in Temporal Dissonance,” Cinchel’s latest for the Patient Sounds label, is a trap. A sunken trench covered in fall leaves, misleading young lovers, hikers, and cassette reviewers to early termination with the assurance of radiant golds and magentas. The nine track subterfuge (which clocks in at a hour btw) starts off with bells. BELLS! It seems obvious now, gazing up to the light from the bottom of a deep ditch Cinchel has dug, that the bells were pure enticement. Why would the sound of ceremonious bells even be wafting about like an unignorable aroma anyways? But, you know what they say – hindsight is 4/20. Now I’m trapped in a pit.

Every song on “A Sad Study” doesn’t begin sugary sweet only to dilate into a ravine of darkness, but it would be good form to assume that the next gum up of good times is always on it’s way. The smooth sailing guitar, electronics, and BELLS! It all crumbles with time. I guess that’s just life though; A sequence of attempting not to fall in ditches mixed with falling in ditches.

I managed to get a message out to Cinchel asking him to explain his intentions with this devious shit, and to please send supplies. His response:

“The tape is meant to mimic the arc of life: birth to death. Each song explores how events in a life are in a constant balance between happy/sad, optimism/pessimism.”

No supplies were included.

I applaud Cinchel for his work on this tape. The angelic avalanches and cruel certainty are like oil and water, end-to-end saturating the recording. Cinchel is one of the few “drone people” (if that means anything?) that refuses to bore and “A Sad Study in Temporal Dissonance” is an excellent sounding/looking tape. I just wish he would help me out of this hole… Maybe you’ll join me!?