KILN “Dusker” [ARTPL-075]

Dusker, the latest from Michigan trio KILN, infuses the entire concept of electronic composition with an almost impossible organic sense, its lush songs packed with flourishes that appear and disappear, cycling, spilling and disintegrating across the stereo field. It is an aural feast on headphones, and a perfect companion for a stroll through auburn fields. KILN have a knack for balancing heart-rending melodies & progressions against rhythmic forms & textures of incredible depth, making for a richness of sound that may well be instrumental for the sole fact that words could never express as much.

They are also meticulous manipulators of their instruments; while guitars, drum kits and live percussion appear on many tracks, the ear will struggle to pinpoint the possible sources of the unique sounds comprising Dusker. Despite a penchant for mystery, though the band themselves are highly private, write in their own dialect and never play live, one is drawn into a placid realm of womblike softnesses and hazy warmth, entranced and engaged at every shift by a wealth of beautiful sounds that elevate their human, natural and electronic foundations equally.

Having quietly staked out their musical territory for more than a decade, KILN describe their evolved orchestrations as “Dusken texture-groove-mosaics- an active, electrified space that employs plenty of float, but without the drift”. The underlying complexities and fully formed environs of each piece come from lengthy germinations and reconfigurations, born from a compositional method that involves sound file exchange and constant modification. It is this emphasis on a wholly natural process, both in inspiration and execution, that separates KILN from their peers, and makes Dusker one of the most original statements in electronic music in some time.