This is a split between .Cut (Featuring Gibet) / Kulfi / We are time

"3X3" is a series (so far of two albums, but there are more to come.) of three-way splits between three bands, which holds some connection, a point of comparison, between one another. On this album, the first of the series, the collaboration is between .Cut, which is Alberick who runs the label [Walnut + Locust] who released this album, and featuring Gibet, who collaborates with him more often than not, Kulfi from France and We are Time from Japan. If I had to point at the point of connection between the three projects, I suppose it would be in the brittle delicacy of the 12 tracks, each in its own way, each in its own direction, but all in a crystal clear sensitiveness.

Of all the .Cut tracks that I have heard, I think that these three tracks are Alberick and Gibet's most emotional and touching. Overcoming fear begins with a low, slow moaning that gains volume and depth as it moves on to become a powerful dirge. A sampled voice, speaking about being afraid welcomes a distant shattering sounds and these three major elements manage to construct a powerful and aesthetic surroundings. "Harry Truman Will Never Die" continues almost without notice, but it dives much deeper into the skin, as the guitars grow stronger and warmer. Its darker and much more intense, getting the entire album into a specific momentum and point of view and certainly catching attention.

Kulfi brings one long track, clocking over 25 minutes and slowly ranging from delicate and minimalist whisper that greets the track into being, to a lush wilderness that brings to mind a forest, brings to mind a haunting dream, and grows into a claustrophobic, mechanic nightmare. It slowly dies out into tiny sounds that resemble a lost, almost breathless saxophone in a windy, barren desert. "Hamburger lady" develops lots of micro rhythms and in itself is an inetersting development after the three opening tracks.

"We are Time" brings no less than eight tracks, a full E.P if you will; the eight tracks have a certain mellancholic aura to them, with their gentle appearance from "City", which begins with small occurances that manage to emphasize what it's like to be alone in a huge metropolin. "Ghost" is much more liquid and elusive. We are Time goes deeper into the more experimental part of this album with their entire chunk of this album being a constant sound research that seems to give away all of its findings to the listener without commiting to a specific direction. The result is a beautiful and spacy mixture of musical notions. Some lamenting, like "Her Death" while some are more aggressive, like "Murderer".

The first volume of the 3X3 albums is a very well presented platform for the three projects, going in a logical linear line between the more open and emotional .Cut and Gibet, through the long corridor of unexpected wonders that Kulfi builds, to the beautiful and almost forlorn zero point, where We are Time are making their own world. A fine connection between three acts that make their appearance on this album well worthwhile. Highly recommended!
Oren Ben Yosef - www.heathenharvest.com - janvier 2010