Aeriae continues to carve out his unique space in modern electronic music production with Peril Triage, the new 7-track EP out now on Clan Analogue. A hyperkinetic evocation of psychological response, Peril Triage emerged following Aeriae’s touring to support his enigmatic 2014 album release Victris.
Honing the Aeriae controllerism setup through live performance enabled heightened levels of instinct and drama during the atypically rapid (for Aeriae) composition and production process for Peril Triage. Previous Aeriae releases were heedless of whether they could be reproduced live in any practical sense. With Peril Triage, Aeriae takes a set produced especially for live performance back into the studio environment to synthesise the two approaches. The result is a gapless forty-three minute set of labyrinthine synth programming and rising tempo. Beneath the pace and skittering beat design, compositional structures morph slowly via the producer’s trademark serialist melodic figures and intricate sound design, always with an ear towards the ultimate emotional destination.
The perilous-eponymous journey opens with ‘Firmament’, a vortex in which a steadfast beat and subsonic organ riffs eventually collide with a searing synth sky. The segue into ‘Charnel’ is seamless. Its bass churns in darkness beneath a dauntless organ line until a series of surprising pivots resolve all.
In ‘Ceanic’, bright 303-like lines duel with an emerging baroque riff through eruptions of burbling synths, plosives and reverb, and finally descend into melancholy. Centre track ‘Resolver’ describes the EP’s favoured dynamic literally, rising steadily in tension before breaking into prolonged catharsis at the halfway point.
‘Valified’ is the closest Peril Triage comes to straight techno, with its sequential drum machine attitude and incredibly mobile bassline. The emergence of sparkling atmospherics, melodramatic counterpoint and syncopated phrasing ensure it is bent right out of shape by the end. Sprays of metallic beats dominate ‘Where All Past Burdens No Longer Shall Be Worn’ for more than two minutes before the track begins to hint at its harmonic hand to come.
Final track ‘Haliday’ is ostensibly the most playful, and was originally developed around samples of Wa Wa Nee – which have most assuredly been removed from the finished track for legal simplicity – but it also has the playfulness to turn to menace at the last.
Peril Triage is the third major release on Clan Analogue from Sydney producer Aeriae (Wade Clarke) following on from the Nurse 2 Alyssa Type EP and epic album Victris.
Tracklisting:
1. Firmament
2. Charnel
3. Ceanic
4. Resolver
5. Valified
6. Where All Past Burdens No Longer Shall Be Worn
7. Haliday