Review: Datura Dilema - Spirals

None of these pieces have a genuine beginning or end. Melody is absent also. Essentially, Spirals is a set of four revolving geometric sculptures, enacting abstract strings of code that dictate such fundamentals of tempo, pitch and rhythmic intersection, as angular electronic motifs overlap the regimented techno thump in dazzling polymetric patterns. The shapes spin constantly, unwaveringly, as certain edges bulge or fizz with gentle applications of EQ and volume. Datura Dilema adjusts the sound as though it were a lump of clay on a pottery wheel, bringing variation into the frame through a simple combination of existing momentum and gently applied pressure.

The first and last tracks could have been strung out into 20 or 30-minute pieces, no problem. The former is an angular halogen dance – a strange, anti-melodious glitch that can’t move on – while the other is a square drone strobe, pulsing upon a single low note while cymbals intensity on either side like rain on the windows of a moving car. It’s a photograph of an eternity, using the linear road of time as a means to sonically manifest despite the fact that it could exist just fine as an algebraic abstraction; an endless upward curve on a graph, approaching zero and never getting there.