7″ Gold Marbled Vinyl, Drone Records, 2009
roilnoise.com/ctephin.htm
Noise creation as a family weekend thing. If you are a ‘noisician’ yourself, you probably would think of that as either a) undoable, b) unwanted or c) a match made in heaven, finding the perfect husband/wife and having children that actually approve of mommy and daddy’s activities.
Behind the name Ctephin is an actual family from Oklahoma where mom, dad and the oldest of the children are actively into noise and sound creation. Furthermore, dad (StF) is active with other musicians and family members with the collaborative Umbrella Noize Collective. Intriguing to say the least.
After a cassette on 905, the Duad 7″ is the first non-virtual or CD-R release by Ctephin, and it’s pressed on golden marbled vinyl. “[Heaven]: Beatific Vision” is a psychedelic arrangement within a perspective between noise and folk. At over seven minutes, the track is quite long for a 7″. “[Hell]: Precipice Of Origin” is a more ambient approach to drone, where drone in this case should be considered a ‘repetitive structure’. There are still a lot of guitars in there, but differently used and mixed. “[Hell]…” is swelling, it’s growing and growling, and only in the end you get a chance to hear a few of the hidden layers from the mix. Almost some sort of view from above which – when it concerns hell – not many have seen.
Stuff to explore or simply try out…
[7/10]
— Bauke van der Wal