Dusted Reviews Artist: Snawklor Album: It Would Have Lived Here Label: Synaesthesia Review date: May. 19, 2004

Snawklor exemplifies a drunken style of music production, as tedious unspectacular moments co-exist with mind altering apexes. It is tempting to think the moments of mediocrity were made to heighten the impact of the more impressive moments. It Would Have Lived Here is a mixture of elaborately arranged domestic noises, a la Tetsu Inoue, composed at times with near Autechren complexity, before dissolving into the psychedelic ambient of the former.

The opening “Doublivores Back” is a dull harbinger full of clanging metallics and the occasional throb from an acoustic bass or slice of Grandmaster Flash from a record player. Apart from the odd jarring noises, like a cat rustling through the kitchen cupboard in the middle of night, nothing interesting happens.

But just when Dylan Krasevac and Nathan Gray might be dismissed as aimless 21st century wankers, “Assemble the Shade” opens with sheer IDM deftness. The two assemble tones and sampled fragments in sobering contrast to the stumbling first track.

Adding yet another dimension of creativity, “Craykles wonderful Time” bubbles with submerged aquatic thrashing, morphing into a fine psychedelic drone while high-pitched frequencies form siren songs. Three tracks in and It Would Have Lived Here demonstrates that it defies in any one category. “War in the Trees” carries on for seven minutes as nature noises intertwine with tuning forks, turning into a sublime piece of resonating ambience.

Hovering between ambient, IDM and modern composition, It Would Have Lived Here bobs and weaves between styles – and between success and failure. At their worst, Krasevac and Gray sound like drunken music students goofing around in the school studio. At their best, they rival many on the Touch roster.

By I Khider

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