Untold – Black Light Spiral
From the moment the sirens come pealing out of the nerve-shredding opening track, you can tell something is up in the world of Untold. Presenting his first long-player after amassing a sizable body of work since he first came to ground in 2008, there was always going to be an element of uncertainty as to how a producer such as Jack Dunning would approach the album format. From the outset it’s clear that he’s looking to make a statement. There has always been a sense that Dunning’s music strives to stand apart from the surrounding environment, even as he emerged swept up in the rapidly fracturing dubstep zeitgeist. From the wayward arc of his single output, Black Light Spiral appears to have been seized upon as a chance to truly let rip with challenging postulations of what bass-driven music can be in the contemporary climate.
It’s hard not to feel a politicised tone ringing out of “5 Wheels” as a cavalcade of air-raid klaxons and police sirens conjure up a feeling of urban unrest that links WWII to the sound of a 21st century city at night. Over an uneasy grandfather clock tick and just a few carefully placed synth chimes and subtle bass swells, it makes for a dramatic intro track and yet holds a poignancy that runs deeper. Such audacious and instantly identifiable sound sources make for a bold statement when so many are striving to mask the origins of their samples, and at a time when society is drowning in evidence of sinister government policy the track feels like a call to arms.
It’s the kind of sonic terrorism embedded in the industrial and post punk tidal wave that busted British music wide open in the early ’80s, and there is no doubt that this fine legacy of fringe sounds is of particular interest to Dunning. On the third installment of his Change In A Dynamic Environment series there was a distinct live feel to the bass line that grumbled out underneath “Kane” while “Overdrive” was buried in the stifling clamour of industrial hiss. So it is on this LP, where “Strange Dreams” comes to life on a red-lining bass line before descending into a nightmarish soundscape fit for Throbbing Gristle’s first born. It may just be this reviewers ears, but in its mutating loop the titular vocal sample in “Sing A Love Song” starts to sound like, “this is not a love song” – perhaps a nod to PiL? Even if that reference point is a stretch, the stark dub piano notes too call to mind the likes of New Age Steppers and the age-old relationship between punk and reggae.
There is plenty of room left for techno to loom over the tracks on Black Light Spiral. “Doubles” nestles into a muddy thud of minimal propulsion, championing the creative benefits of pared down production and the space it yields. Really though, these concerns come secondary to the textural magnificence of the record, from the yowling scrapes of “Drop It On The One” to the grungy reversed thrums and helicopter cycles present on “Wet Wool”. Dunning’s jump off point comes some ten years before techno, and instead the frequency range of modern production is employed simply to realise ideas that his forefathers lost to lo-fi limitation.
It’s certainly not an easy ride, and there’s no doubt that the intention was to unnerve any who dare enter into this murky world. Texture has always been a calling card of Untold’s unique style, and this album feels like the artist cutting free from the shackles of club demands and intoning the message behind everything that he released before.
Oli Warwick
Tracklisting:
1. 5 Wheels
2. Drop It On The One
3. Sing A Love Song
4. Doubles
5. Wet Wool
6. Strange Dreams
7. Hobthrush
8. Ion