Alex Durlak – Seconds

Seconds is the final instalment in a trilogy of recordings by Toronto’s Alex Durlak which were each recorded in 2010. This release follows both Lowing, formerly made available on the Audio Gourmet net-label and Catalyst (also known as Rural Route no.4), which was in turn released on Durlak’s own printing, publishing and record label, Standard Form.

As was the case with its predecessors, Seconds features Durlak alone on his guitar with only effects for accompaniment. These effects seem to have consisted primarily of heavy granular synthesis processing, which was performed in real-time and allowed the artist to produce Seconds in a single, improvised take.

For those already familiar with Durlak’s work on Catalyst and Lowing, there is little new which can be said about this minimalist, dark and claustrophobic work, but that is not to its detriment; rather, Seconds typifies that kind of release which just has to be experienced in person to be truly appreciated. Indeed, we could break down the single long-form twenty minute piece into its constituent parts of heavily treated guitar and bleak semi-futuristic atmosphere which wouldn’t sound out of place in an Andrei Tarkovsky movie, but in doing so we miss the point somehow and perhaps do the artist a disservice in the process.

In Seconds then, Alex Durlak produces music which differs little from its forerunners but still manages to evolve logically to become something distinct. This is a very good thing and leaves this particular listener hoping for more of the same in the future.

Seconds is pressed as a single sided 12” on white vinyl, with an excerpt of a short story written by Algernon Blackwood and dating to 1906 printed in black ink on the reverse.

- Adam Williams for Fluid Radio

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