Tangent - Disclosure [Review]

About Tangent

Hailing from Haarlem in Holland, electronic duo Tangent are better known down the pub as Ralph van Reijendam and Robbert Kok. Their old-school, instrumental musical ability has been well and truly consumed by their love of machine music over the years, and their studio is rammed with synths, machines and more cables than your local telecom provider. Their music has never been easy, but over the last five years the studio lights have dimmed noticeably, and they're now making some uncompromising, suitably dark, peak capitalism and Anthropocene soundtracking electronic music, that whilst accessible, won't be playing in your local supermarket any time soon.

Review

The album title track gets the ball rolling with an urgent tapping and an ominous pulse throbbing in the distance, like a distant alarm going off, that due to lack of proximity takes a while to register. Slowly but surely the layers start to grow, clanks, synth pads and machine glitches adding welcome sonic details, until halfway through the track ups the low-tempo intensity, the audio minutiae are suddenly turned up to eleven and a thudding, distorted kick drum announces things just got serious as the synths serenade our dystopian present and the avoidable sadness of it all. 'Absence of Force' then gives pause for reflection, its lighter, brighter ambient electronics giving the peaceful resistance a moment to compose their arguments, until the halfway mark when some glitching future breaks signal it's time to hit the streets and voice that discontent.

'Unfound Existence' adopts a similarly track-of-two-halves approach, the quietly edgy ambience eventually morphing into some classical hinting, machine-malfunctioning future breaks. 'Denial' is a fine slice of beat-anchored, maximal ambient that seemingly soundtracks our collective dismissal of humanity's present plight. Next up is 'Vector of Acceleration', the album's darkest, most ominous moment; the initially ambient arrangement oozing existential dread, before spiralling into electronic doom. Thankfully, "Sonoluminescence" then provides some lighter relief, its piano line and analogue glow suggesting that at least some of us will survive to warn future generations of the perils of unchecked greed. The album-closing 'Opposing Forces' adopts a more ambivalent approach, its brighter opening continuing its predecessor's optimism before almost playfully breaking down, only to reform for a darker, ritualtronica finale.

Don't play this album when you're feeling down, but do listen, pull your head out of the sand, and then do something about it. It's still not too late. For an equally uncompromising, and heavy electronic album check out Simo Cell & Abdullah Miniwy's Dying Is The Internet.

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Playlist Companion

Find Tangent in the Slow Oddities Playlist.