CD, Idiosyncratics Records, 2009
www.myspace.com/proyectoyermo
The belgian duet Y.E.R.M.O. consists of Yannick Franck (co-founder of the label Idiosyncratics records and member of the noise band Idiosyncrasia), and Xavier Dubois (experimentalist musician and guitarist of the sludge band Ultraphallus).
Their 5-track record “Collision Zone” is actually the continuation of a soundtrack they produced and performed in close co-operation with visual artists Nadine Hilbert and Gast Bouchet for the installation they create for the Luxembourg Pavilion at the 53rd Venice Biennale. For further information about this particular project there is information at http://www.gast-bouchet.com/collisionzone/, but for now let’s focus on the music only…
There are several categories this album could fit into: dark ambient, drone, noise, ritual music… Industrial screechings are here combined to distorted guitars, discreet percussions and a whole lot of field recordings (tweetings, sounds of flowing water, rain and thunder, scratchings, insects’ buzzings, soundscapes of all kinds) which evoke at the same time the coldness of an industrialized environment and the rapture of men in front of the natural world. This confrontation between two universes is apparently the album’s recurring theme and the feelings that come out of it are pretty mixed: as the listener may be haunted by the dark atmospheres, he also may feel like he’s taken to a journey which will rouse his fascination. It’s that duality that makes this record interesting to me.
Once you’ve put this CD into your player, you may find that you can’t stop listening to it again and again in order to fully appreciate all of its details and subtleties. And for that reason, it should better be played at high volume, on a high end stereo and with lights turned off.
[8/10]
— Olivier Noel