Autistici : amplified presence

David Newman, aka Autistici, brings us a marvellous collection of new works.Taking in a range of styles, the album moves from softly drifting melodies to intensely textured work. ‘Automated Night Light’ provides a gentle opening, easing the listener in with a fragmented lullaby-like melody accompanied by intermittent pops and crackles that take us seamlessly into ‘A Bed of Powdered Glass’. The sense of space created through extreme panning, constantly in motion, is impressive and lends a real sense of space to the surrounding soundscape. This allows the processed acoustic sounds to remain purely in the centre, their melodic fragments providing an anchor for the piece.‘A Religion of Water and Air’ is an absolute corker. What sounds like a typewriter joins a short piano and plucked strings sample, building up until the beat proper kicks in. Plenty of disjointed mayhem ensues; it’s ambient but beauty, dark but jolly, and at one point a drunken R2D2 seems to creep in, joining in with the return of the previous piano sample.From the frenetic, intensely driven soundscape created by the processed voice of ‘Vocal Chords’ to the fragile guitar and koto melodies of ‘Sixteenth’, Newman covers some serious ground, integrating purely electronic sounds with the organic qualities of acoustic instruments. ‘Tower Location’ incorporates processed bells, field recordings and a whole manner of bleeps and clicks into an intensely beat-driven piece. ‘Slow Rotor Sensory Loop’ and ‘Field’ begin to wind the listener down with immersive swirling textures taking hold, whilst ‘Slow Fluorescence’ brings the album to a slightly jittery close; the intermittent guitar harmonics lending a calming contrast to the insistent flickering static.Overall, a superb collection– highly recommended.

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