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Intersystems — #IV
(Waveshaper WSM-04, 2021, CD)

by Jon Davis, Published 2022-03-17

#IV Cover art

Diving back into the early days of music created with synthesizers, there was a group called Intersystems based in Toronto. It was 1967, and electronic musician John Mills-Cockell got together with light sculptor Michael Hayden, poet Blake Parker, and architect Dik Zander to produce immersive installations combining their talents. Their experimental art events were presented in various cities around North America, and they released three albums before dissolving. Mills-Cockell went on to form Syrinx and numerous other projects, and then in 2021 made the unexpected announcement that Intersystems would soon be releasing a fourth album. Mills-Cockell is at the helm with modular Moog synthesizers, and Parker is on board with his poetry; Hayden created the artwork and is credited as co-producer. The overall impression one gets from listening to #IV is one of spoken word accompanied by relatively sparse electronic sounds. The delivery of Parker’s words (by an electronically modified voice credited to William Blakeney) is often deliberately low-key, slow and flat in intonation. The words themselves are often surrealistic, more evocative of mood and thought than specifically imagistic. At times, the synthesizer does present a rhythmic sequence with recognizable themes, but much of the time there are only atonal sweeps, rumbles, and noises. These are obviously the work of someone skilled at modular synthesis, and are very far removed from more mainstream electronic music. While the spoken words remove the album from consideration as background music, listeners who dig abstract sound art could find a lot to enjoy here. It would be even better with a visual component. The CD version comes with a bonus disc called the Unfinished World EP,  which contains a “single edit” of the first track from #IV (still over nine minutes in length) along with three other tracks. The track “Unfinished World” itself is the most song-like of the pieces, with a percussive white-noise beat, a bass line, and something approaching a chord progression, at least sporadically. In general, the EP is more musical than the album proper, and more immediately accessible — it’s far from pop-oriented, but the denser arrangements are more appealing and interesting. On the whole, the return of Intersystems is both a throwback to the free-wheeling art scene of the late 60s and a vision of what modern electronic music can be when freed of the confines of popular fashion.

Filed under: New releases, 2021 releases

Related artist(s): Intersystems

More info
http://intersystems.bandcamp.com/album/4

 

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