Richard Chartier - Tracing - Non Visual Objects - CD

Non Visual Objects has something of an impressive pedigree as far as releases go. Kicking off with a CD by sound artist Steve Roden, the aim of this particular imprint became very clear early on - to provide experimental works of electronic musical art with distinctive packaging and a varied, often challenging repertoire of artists.

Following that, NVO released works by Richard Garet, Dale Lloyd, Jos Smolders, Ubeboet, Roel Meelkop and label co-owner Heribert Friedl. Now, for the 5th release we are treated to an exceptionally beautiful piece of work by Line and 3particles head Richard Chartier who, by my calculations, is on absolutely top form at the moment.

Well known for his wonderfully difficult sound-works using microtones, fractured electronics and a minimally minimal style which borders on being barely perceptible at times, Chartier is an experimentalist with an incredibly finely tuned sense of space and form.

'Tracing' continues his recent (and hopefully ongoing) trend for producing incredibly deep and melancholy drone-based works. For other examples see 'Set Or Performance' or 'Retrieval 1-5'. In my opinion, this style really suits him and brings a truly emotional side to his sound right to the fore whilst still challenging the listener and pushing towards the edges of the genre.

The piece starts off in a typical Chartier fashion with a long, tantalizingly slow build up which, initially at least, sits so far back in the mix that it's more of a subconscious sound - a slowly evolving, rumbling bass drone layered under a deeply resonant and very atmospheric texture which fades in and out like the ebb and flow of the sea.

The piece continues in that vein throughout using subtle filtering and resonance to amazing effect... the droning sounds almost implying the feeling of wind blowing across stark landscapes... the feeling of being stranded, alone, in space with monolithic, impossibly large spacecraft drifting past you... utter desolation, yet with a surprising amount of warmth in the actual tones he's used. Volumes change radically from time to time and whilst one moment you're hardly aware of anything, the next it's a mind-filling noise which is very moving indeed.

Then, 41 minutes later, you find yourself in another space and frame of mind having been treated to one of the most hypnotic soundscapes you're liable to hear, wondering to yourself where those 41 minutes went... how they could have passed so quickly.

That's the beauty of it - you always want to go back to hear it again and in a similar way to John Hudak's 'Room With Sky' on Spekk, you get the feeling that's exactly what the artist wanted.

Chartier has created a pristine work here and, for me, is conceivably one of his most exquisite works to date.

Bravo to both label and artist.