COLLIN & DEMDIKE STARE, JON - Minerals

"With the trio all hailing from the Pennine moorlands just above the Manc sprawl, Jon Collin and Demdike Stare's shared musical expression understandably reflects a parallax purview that follows leylines between lusher nooks of the inner city and windswept, barren landscapes. Never ones to play it straight, the Swedish Nyckelharpa -- a sort of hybrid viola/hurdy gurdy -- is deployed deep into a mix of oblique soundscaping, seeping into a swirl of field recordings, screwed spoken word and phosphorescent drones pinging with tape delay. Split into two distinct sides, the album opens with a scrape of wood and metal that introduces us to the nyckelharpa. Scratching its surface and strings, Collin reveals its peculiar tonality, while Demdike cut through its dissonant textures. Like ancient campfire rituals recorded to decaying 1/4" tape, the music on Minerals feels as if it's in dialog with the past, shuttled into the present by abstract processes. By the side's third act, resonant gongs bil