Musique et film expérimental
Experimental music and video
Hostile Surgery : The Day Called 'X'
Author: Kieran Pavel as Hostile Surgery Date: 2020 Time: 51,42 minutes
Summary
Life turned itself into an incessant storm.
The world's defense protocols are activated.
The sky turns into the most terrible beauty.
Under a bleak, droning, dark and haunting soundscapes, everything leads to a lesser burning sun.
Hostile Surgery's first album "The Day Called X" shapes together elements from drone, industrial, noise and dark ambient.
For optimal listening, use headphones and extreme isolation.
The album and it's video clips are inspired by the namesake 1957 CBS documentary film set in Portland, Oregon, US.
Recorded & mixed at the Mondo Corretto Studio (Geneva, Switzerland) from January to April 2020.
credits
released May 1, 2020
Direction, writing, production, cinematography, editing, sound (mix, editing & design), music, art direction and lighting: Kieran Pavel
The Day Called 'X', part 1 : storm born
A world blind to the wall it built blindlessly around itself.
Ignoring that life turned into a struggle as an incessant storm.
Under a bleak soundscapes, everything leads to the surgeon's birth.
The Day Called 'X', part 2 : waking room
An entire city is evacuated in anticipation of a nuclear air raid.
All the world's defense protocols are activated.
Under a droning soundscapes, everything leads to the attack.
The Day Called 'X', part 3 : bleed out
The hardest of silence sets in.
Tidy ants are working in the shades of a soon lesser burning sun.
Under a dark soundscapes, everything is in the working for the worst.
The Day Called 'X', part 4 : incoming whispers
It starts in silence when an ominous whistle slowly takes it's place.
The sky is going to be filled by a the most terrible beauty.
Under a haunting soundscapes, everything leads up to build a doomed sky.
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A french article in Ars Goetia the webzine for extreme musics and underground art, culture and litterature
The Day Called 'X' | Hostile Surgery
Chronique courte
Pour les fans du genre dark/ noise industrial, Hostile Surgery nous propose un premier album The Day Called ‘X’, inspiré d’un documentaire de CBS du même nom de 1957 dans lequel Portland / Oregon US est évacué en anticipation d’un hypothétique raid nucléaire aérien russe. Les tonalités sont pâles, sombres et apocalyptiques et demandent une extrême isolation pour une écoute optimale. L’ambiance hantée des compositions est très pénétrante. Les fans d’Earthflesh ou Nordvargr apprécieront.
Translation
For fans of the dark/noise industrial genre, Hostile Surgery offers us a first album The Day Called 'X', inspired by a CBS documentary of the same name from 1957 in which Portland/Oregon US is evacuated in anticipation of a hypothetical Russian nuclear air raid. The tones are pale, dark and apocalyptic and require extreme isolation for optimal listening. The haunted atmosphere of the compositions is very penetrating. Fans of Earthflesh or Nordvargr will appreciate it.
1. The Day Called X, Part 1: Storm Born.
2. The Day Called X, Part 2: Waking Room.
3. The Day Called X, Part 3: Bleed Out.
4. The Day Called X, Part 4: Incoming Whispers.
Life turned itself into an incessant storm.
The world's defense protocols are activated.
The sky turns into the most terrible beauty.
Under a bleak, droning, dark and haunting soundscapes, everything leads to a lesser burning sun.
I feel I am doing my bit for the COVID-19 Virus by reviewing releases that tie in as a soundtrack for these strange times of isolation and social distancing. My thoughts are with everyone. This one came through the Inbox last week and it did not hit me as being a Copy and Paste chancer. Hostile Surgery is a new project that is based in Switzerland and it is the work of Kieran Pavel. The Day Called X is the debut release by the project.
This release comes in four parts, the first act, Storm Born serves as a good introduction to the album. It is built out of low-level drones and samples that interact with each other respectfully and carefully. The drones grow as they pulsate increasingly as the lead sound which sounds like thick tape being ripped off a roll as it cracks and rips. There is a good sense of space surrounding the elements of sound, it creates a bleak sound collage.
Waking room uses similar interactions, but a crackling distortion takes the lead and is more woven into the drones that surround it; this creates a thicker texture and density to the work. The breaking down of the space between sounds builds tension as things are now forced to work together or play off each other. The rises and changes in waves of the pulsations create a moving wall of sound that is ever shifting within the limits of its own confines.
The sense of darkness intensifies on Bleed Out as the sound elements intensify and build hostility. Bleed Out radiates and pulsates more, it is less dense than Waking Room, but the sounds seem to have a bigger scope and depth and really push outward. This all makes for the best passage of sound on the album, the underlying sadness of this bleak landscape really lingers.
The simmering Incoming Whispers is the album’s finale. It feels as if it is made from singing bowls and blistering distortion, the two simple elements make for a rich combination. There is a less hostile ambient depth to this part, it shifts from more dreamlike to that feeling of the sun’s rays shining in your eyes when waking up on a summer morning.
The Day Called X is a dark, yet ultimately beautiful journey. It serves as a good debut for Hostile Surgery and hints towards great things in the future.
A french article in Modern Zeuhl (01.05.2020 - on Facebook)
La claque dark-ambiant/noise/drone du mois (alors qu'on est le 1er, c'est vous dire !), c'est le premier album de hostile surgery, encore un Genevois qui fait du beau bruit (après Earthflesh, que je vous ai posté la semaine dernière). Comme d'hab : au casque, fort, si possible les yeux fermés.
Translation
The dark-ambient / noise / drone slap of the month (when we are the 1st, that's to say!), This is the first album of hostile surgery, again a Genevan who makes a good noise (after Earthflesh, that I posted to you last week). As usual: with a helmet, strong, if possible with your eyes closed.
Minimal noise is the name of the game here and that's what Hostile Surgery's "The Day Called 'X'" is all about. A four track album of almost inaudible sounds which the creator has stated is best listened to with headphones and extreme isolation. Headphones are easy enough to come by as is isolation due to the Covid-19 pandemic, but have at it:
The Day Called X, part 1: storm born aired on The Moderns, the Kevin Press Show on contemporary music from around the world. Sundays 9 am - 12 noon (ET) on radioregent.com (Toronto, CA).
My Impressions:
This is a pure noise release. However, contrary to the conventions of the genre, the songs are soft and even have a kind of sweetness.
Yes. the sweetness is ensconced by a foreboding and anxiety. The sounds are mostly tears, hums and windy wails.
But there is still a soft touch not usual for this type of work. It is effective.
Ryan O'Doud // God-Emperor, Commodity Fetish Record - 2020
Les disques thématiques représentent souvent les expériences musicales les plus riches et intéressantes. The Day Called X, premier album du projet suisse Hostile Surgery, fait partie de ces aventures qui dépassent le cadre sonore en proposant une forme originale et novatrice. Kieran Pavel, maître d’œuvre derrière ce pseudonyme, présente ici un ouvrage en quatre volets audiovisuels alors que chaque morceau est accompagné d’un court métrage rendant l’écoute encore plus immersive. Le producteur recommande d’enfiler un casque d’écoute et de vous isoler pour en profiter au maximum!
Le premier acte, Storm Born dresse les bases de l’histoire qui s’écrira tranquillement durant les quelque cinquante prochaines minutes. Utilisant des images du documentaire The Day Called X produit à Portland en 1957 par CBS montrant la ville se préparant à une imminente attaque nucléaire, Kieran recrée en musique ce moment de tension extrême. La pièce d’introduction bâtit peu à peu l’angoisse sous-jacente d’une telle situation avec des sonorités drone déstabilisantes et bien noisy. Le cataclysme arrive et il sera impossible d’y échapper.
Waking Room laisse entrevoir un réveil brutal alors que, faisant directement face au désastre, le quotidien doit être abandonné et que l’instinct de survie se déclenche. La trame sonore de cette course contre la montre se veut oppressante au plus haut point. Vagues échos industriels et trombes dronesques s’unissent pour créer une hécatombe auditive où les grésillements et les vibrations règnent. Cette composition d’une puissance désarmante innove en matière de dark ambient et nous laisse complètement sans voix.
Les vrombissements se font nombreux alors que la défense se prépare face à un assaut pressant; les avions décollent, les bombes fusent et la pression augmente, l’anxiété est à son comble. Bleed Out est le terreau d’une mélodie plus sombre et dissonante que sur les titres précédents, rendant les influences noise du projet plus évidentes. Les images en noir et blanc communiquent encore plus sur cette vidéo tandis que l’absence de couleur permet de sentir plus clairement la fatalité de la situation.
La conclusion du disque offre une composition plus contemplative qu’auparavant, mais également plus difficile d’approche. Les harmonies ressemblent au sifflement mystérieux d’un serpent juxtaposé aux crépitements d’un feu ardent, celui de l’explosion des nombreux obus peut-être… La tempête déferle en ces derniers instants et produit tout un spectacle. La dévastation, aussi cruelle et violente soit-elle, capture notre attention et nous laisse paralysé·e·s devant cette grandeur hors norme. Le tumulte viendra finalement s’éteindre après cette expérience musicale troublante et riche en émotion!
Pour acheter l’album, c’est ICI.
Paru le 1er mai 2020.
[Recommandation] Hostile Surgery – The Day Called X
Hostile Surgery logo, 2020
Album cover, 2020
Track 1 cover, 2020
Track 2 cover, 2020
Track 3 cover, 2020
Track 4 cover, 2020