Review: Surfacing – Surfacing

Nottingham’s Surfacing aim to give voice to (amongst other things) the horrors that society tries to suppress. Yet anyone who likes their experimental music embellished by post-punk yet curious about the terrors of the night club will find an album worth pursuing here.

Thanks to its tribal drums, whispered vocals and dystopian, industrial atmosphere, ‘Surfacing (Susanna’s Song)’ builds up as if it’s going to turn into an alternative dance anthem. In fact, to be perfectly frank, there are strong undercurrents of Underworld here. ‘Hypocalypse’ also has roots in the club scene but the edgy spoken word and sense of claustrophobia suggest an affinity with angry post-punk obscurities such as The Royal Family And The Poor too.

As the record reaches its halfway point, ‘Amaurot’ mesmerises with its mix of chants, Eastern rhythms and modern beats; the overall effect sounding like the lost cries of forgotten prisoners as they rattle their cages. It’s a stunning moment. ‘Melancholy Of Fulfilment’ cuts the production layers back further still with vocals now represented by dislocated echoes. This excellent mini album then ends in dramatic fashion with ‘Her Smoke Rose Up Forever’; where the beats, bleeps and rhythms merge into one another to form the thinking man’s floor filler Surfacing had been threatening from the start.

Within each track there is music of stark beauty which haunts the listener with every ghostly step. Experimental music very rarely sounds as vital and as invigorating as this.

Web Sites:
Surfacing Tumblr
Surfacing Bandcamp
Records On Ribs Label

Further Listening:
The Royal Family And The Poor, A.R. Kane, Underworld, Ultramarine

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