Silber Records
Silber Records

Silber Records roundup – Yellow6, Chvad SB & Anda Volley

Dara Higgins gives new releases from Silber Records’ Yellow6, Chvad SB, & Anda Volley the once over

Yellow6: springsun
Springsun starts with a gentle throb of guitar, but after mere seconds notes chime in like it was 2002 and Tarentel were in the house. Before very long, you know what you’re in for.

The tunes on this record unravel over time, building up by way of layers, a bit more guitar here and there, a melody tripping across the top, a chord held like breath too long and released. At times I wish for drama, but that’s my life. But there isn’t going to be any eventual crescendo, as there’s no one to instigate it. Yellow6 is one man, Jon Attwood, and it’s him, his guitar and his looper pedals. The work is semi improvised, seems to be played as you’re hearing it. When the notes find again the chunk of rhythm that underpins the piece, it begins to beguile, and we go from the manic need for something to happen to the gentle acceptance that nothing will. The second track, Conrad#2, named for late video artist Tony Conrad, is a condensed version of the first track. The same idioms persist, sustained delayed guitars, a sort undercurrent of rhythm.

This is a pleasant 20 odd minutes that never demands your attention. It’s hard to know if it was ever designed to actually demand your attention. Guitar ambient.

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Chvad SB: Phenomenalism, Cartesian Doubt and Bomb #20
Chvad SB designed & built a self-playing computer free synthesizer. The next generation of musicians is human free. Or so they say. Given that all pop music these days sounds to me like it was composed by algorithm, this is kind of terrifying. I miss humans. Humans are okay. And it’s fair to say, I think, that humans are pretty good at this music lark. Some of them, anyway. Sure a computer can beat you at chess, but how does a self-playing synth fair at composition? Not great, if I’m honest. This is noodly, high concept wank. The “song” lasts over an hour. And it sounds like a Commodore64 with a migraine. I’ll be honest, I didn’t listen to the whole thing, because one day I’ll die, and I already have enough regrets.

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Anda Volley: Paper Moon
Anda Volley, a Boston based songwriter, joins Silber records and has to do their initiation ceremony, the 5in5 series. The artist has to do five songs in five minutes. Which sounds really difficult, and while Volley goes over the remit by a good thirty seconds, we won’t hold that against her. It’s hard to get into this, as everything is over pretty much as its starting, but the five tracks here are fuzzy electronic vignettes, bursts of odd sounds that hint at more. One imagines that’s the entire point of the 5in5. As a calling card, it’s intriguing, it draws you in. As a review, it’s frustrating. Like scoring a restaurant based merely on their breadsticks. In the meantime, Volley has a back catalogue, so check that out.

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