Ambarchi, O'Malley, Dunn - Shade Themes From Kairos

What has grown into a stand-alone release began life as the cinematic score to apocalyptic short film Karios in 2012, which explored the idea that time could be extracted from the universe and sold as a human commodity. To help bring the visuals and industrial concept to life, director Alexis Destoop instrumented a meeting of minds in influential guitarists Oren Arbarchi and Sunn O)))‘s Stephen O’Malley and appointed the capable ears of producer Randall Dunn to craft an extraordinary piece of guitar orchestration. Pushing the boundaries of what four strings can do together, the five track snippet from the soundtrack was recorded entirely in a dilapidating radio station in Belgium giving an undeniable industrial feel at its core.

With bare space and time as key themes throughout, the release is as an eerie listen as engineered noises echo amongst layers of distortion. Harmonic elements emanate from within the chaos during “Sometimes” and pulsating electrics on “That Space Between” only further the modernist mentality.

It’s worth researching the visual side to this collaboration as the background assists in understanding where this project comes from. Like all good soundtracks, the two sit intertwined with the story feeding the narrative of the music. Standing alone though, Shade Themes From Kairos does just about manage to hold their own though - anyone with an imagination can conjure up the dark landscapes these resonating compositions evoke.

Hardly euphoric but with some real mastery in the guitar, not dissimilar to Body/Head, this is dark swell of analog experimentation will no doubt intrigue guitar geeks globally.