If you are composer and producer from Australia, but you create your music in Island, I guess you are bound to presenting outstanding art. Ben Frost is certainly one of the most talente authors of pur times. He makes minimalistic, instrumental and experimental music with no null hypothesis. Influenced by wide variety of genres, from classic electro minimal to black metal and punk rock, Frost's material is consistently out of the box. Some people take him as a con-artist or poser. I have some dj friends who denounce him for presenting himself as the audience wants him to be, rather than for who he really is. Whichever the case, his talent is undeniable. If you want to conduct your study of Ben Frost, I suggest you begin with Daniel Bjarnason and Ben Frost: A Soundtrack to Solaris.
If I had only one word to describe Frost's creations, that word woul be "darkness". He is not indulging in futuristic gloom, as Amon Tobit, nor he resembles Warp. I would say his darkness is primal, maybe on the trace of Autechre and Klinik. Sometimes he even brings Lustmord and Godspeed You!Black Emperor o my mind. However, Frost has his idiosyncratic signature. Minimal noise experimentations this artist undergoes end up making the listener feel good, somehow. When I go to mental institution, please throw me a farewell party with Ben Frosts music.
Ok, this was a prolonged intro and now we get to the real thing. Threshold of Faith, Frost's new EP, serves as promotion for the new album The Centre Cannot Hold and it unfolds with intriguing hum. From the first moment, I kind of knew where this journey is going to take me. The producer, most likely Steve Albini, says "we are rolling" and initiates the magic of the opening track that holds the whole record together. I had a feeling like the album was not even recorded in the studio. Apropos, it seems like Treshold could only exist in computer. It sounds like impersonal project skillfuly designed in the endless world of softwares. Yet, when I take quality and fullness of soun into consideration, everything starts making sense. The depth of harmonies and overall strength compensate for emotional coldness we are used to from Frost-Albini collab.
EP starts with title track, a strong minimal/drome intro with unsettling harmonies and freezing atmosphere. It turns into cutting composition intertwined with pauses and reverbs called All That You Love Will Be Eviscerated - Albini Swing Version. Short break comes in the shape of chill The Beat Don't Die In Bingo Town. Frost is a master of reflecting on the world that is falling apart. Yet, many critics castigate him for pretentios attitude and lack of originality. Tbh, you won't find anything here that bounces away from the rest of industrial/minimal/drone projects, but If you are music pundit, you can't miss noticing Frost's authenticity.
In my humble opinion, you should give this EP a chance. Since we are living in this cataclysm of a world, nothing but minimal noise industrial makes more sense in your music library.
