Cryptic Nights presents: Watchtower & Origins
Audio visual installation/musical exploration from Cryptic
Cryptic's remit to 'ravish the senses' means that it is impossible to second guess what direction the work will go in. So it is with their latest evening of soundscapes and visuals. It's a sensory overload.
Kin's sound/art installation Watchtower explores surveillance and sensory overload. Drones soar over vast oceans, picking out landmarks and wandering figures on the coastline.
Sounds overlap, reinforcing the sense of paranoia and a constant reliance on tech. Through the vast vistas, and using a security phone call, Kin asks bigger questions about protection, and by extension what freedom really means. It's as unsettling as it's beautiful.
Part of the wonder of Origins is trying to work out how certain sounds are created. Silent Chaos, aka duo Marta NoOne and Ugo Vanlini ,who formed in Rome, make immense monolithic drones using modular synths, laptop, video and a whole panoply of unusual instruments.
Their sound soothes, then warps. NoOne's voice rings out and is processed live, all integrated with tape loops, as distorted 3D images of heritage sites and figurines seem to vibrate. It becomes transcendent, a wholly meditative yet disorientating experience.
Reviewed at CCA, Glasgow, Thu 7 Mar.