Dawn of Midi work in alliance with Erased Tapes to reissue their electronically charged, but acoustically formed album Dysnomia.
Brooklyn-based trio Dawn of Midi are an intriguing amalgamation of styles and practices. Using just acoustic instruments, their arrangement and focus on the frameworks of concrete music has led them to produce hypnotic compositions that draw heavily from North and West African folk. In many ways, they are a welcome contradiction. They make dance friendly music solely through the use of carefully orchestrated melodies. The result is an alluring blend of the dark and upbeat, or spaciousness whilst feeling trapped. Dysnomia reaffirms their individuality.
Dysnomia was reissued as a collective effort from the band and their new label, Erased Tapes, to give the album the release it deserved. It took two years to craft, and rather than jumping into new material both parties believed the record deserved another release. According to bassist Aakaash Israni, they ‘wanted to make a record that sounded both musically futuristic and sonically vintage.’
The manner by which a trio of solely acoustic instruments end up sounding like electronic music, has to do with the unconventional way the group play them. The 9-track LP utilises many comparative melodic techniques, including the formation of beats through fusing instruments together. Songs like ‘lo’, ‘Nix’, and ‘Ymir’ use the repetitive fusion of bass and percussive instruments to compose beats that sustain the precise, yet sometimes experimental expression of the guitar. Each composition is built using this equation, which sees most reach the 5-minute mark, although the album in its entirely is intended to be listened to sequentially.
Whilst the mood of Dysnomia is dark and expansive, the addition of infrequent looped acoustic samples enables each track to stand out from one another. ‘Ijiraq’ leads the last third into a fast-paced trance, and ‘Argol’ sees all three instruments come together to establish a sizable groove that heightens in intensity. Evidence of the Krautrock motorik beat is apparent, but so are the glitchy and skittery beats of acoustic-turned-electronic contemporaries like Radiohead. The result is a brooding, hypnotic experience best listened to in times of introspection – or in darkness, as the band sometimes rehearsed.
With supporting slots for German composer Nils Frahm proving positive for the wider appreciation of their music, this year will see the group perform their acoustics as a seamless DJ-set to mass audiences around the world. Dysnomic will be released worldwide by Erased Tapes on June 1.