Powersilence by Halting

Silence and sound do not exist on a binary, but across a vast spectrum. And on the new album Powersilence by our friend Halting, the gradient of noise and quietude is inverted, creating a Misophonian mirror world where traditional tonalities are traded in for the faintest murmurations amplified to eardrum-quaking resonances. On the first track “Invalidator”, the main focus of the arrangement isn’t the chords of blown-out guitar riffs; instead, attention is captured by fuzzy modulations that would otherwise go unnoticed or blend into the rest of the composition. These artifacts of distortion ease the listener into a sound bath of pure electronic noise, a barrage of clicky synthetic notes and high frequency pulses that feel like sonic acupuncture releasing tension as it worms into your subcutaneous tissue. Yet by the 5th track “Cranefly”, arhythmic cycles begin to merge into a semblance of conformity, with machine-gun fire breakbeats that lend the suggestion of danceability if you’re able to contend with the shrieks of feedback that keep this track firmly planted in the tradition of noise music. Whispered vocals are magnified above loud industrial samples, before shouted pleas for salvation are buried under the rubble of jackhammers pounding through the ceiling above. Transposing stillness and chaos, Powersilence finds its musicality through a careful subversion of the normal sonic experience to a realm of delightful disorientation. 
- Kalen