Hassan I Sabbah was a 13th century Persian warlord, leader of an army of skilled assassins notorious for their daring and murderous antics. He lived in a mountain fortress and inspired slavish devotion in his followers by offering them the key to the kingdom of heaven – a paradise full of drugs and girls, naturally – if only they would follow his every heinous command.
Anything named after such a man clearly has a lot to live up
to. Thankfully Hassan, the first album by Professor Genius (Italians Do It
Better, Disques Sinthommes and THISISNOTANEXIT), is a synth-laden bit of
homegrown exotica with some mesmerising stories to tell. It’s a spell-binding
swirl of textures and contrasts, shot through with distinctly middle Eastern
motifs and drone-like krautrock atmospherics.
The album opens with Hassan 1, an ambientish number that
feels like an awakening. It tip toes up and down arpeggios and emits shimmery
noises that sound like stars as it checks its capacity for cosmic utterances hasn’t
been diminished. The album takes its time in drawing itself up to full height
but certainly by half way through the layers of texture and percussion have
developed into something fully FULLY captivating.
Multi-layered middle Eastern percussion sits below swirling,
to-die-for synth soundscapes which conjure up the northern lights, secret
orders and exotic mysticism. The effect is intoxicating, especially on the
later tracks such as Alamut where far below, powerful waves of bass throb with
lazy menace. On other tracks like Dream of Skin, reedy, metallic melodies
dominate, pulsating with droning insistence as buzz and feedback provide
shifting backdrop to the cinematic sounds. The whole album is awash
with vibrating, hypnotic tones and streams of noise, layered and drawn into
self-contained worlds ordered with exotic percussion. Banks of
keyboards declare their uneasiness as eerie melodies loop above cloak-and-dagger synthetic landscapes. Somehow, this is an album which soothes and menaces in equal degrees.
A big departure from his previous releases, this album sees
Professor Genius move into cinematic imaginings of very specific and evocative
character, time and place. In that, its fairly unique among synth-based music,
which is so often stretching for the future or looking back with a nostalgic
idealism. And for the still new-ish (ish) label LIES, it’s also a real depature, testament to a breadth of vision
unhinted at by their typical holding pattern of strong releases from analogue
house producers such as Legowelt, Steve Summers and Maximillion Dunbar. Looking
forward to the forthcoming L.I.E.S. American Noise compilation!
PS. Don't forget to check out the remixes:
PS. Don't forget to check out the remixes:
