Strange, unidentifiable landscapes erected by Mr. Jerman, one of our more criminally underrated sound artists, here doing his thing for the little-known Russian label Semperflorens. Unlike the work of his more simplistic brethren, these two self-titled pieces are hardly static exercises or mere studies in taciturn drone; the scuttling sounds reveal veritable teeming microsystems of activity, though it must be understood that such a tapestry of sounds cannot be construed as music, per se. But Jerman isn't interested in such prosaic pursuits — this is the stuff of fever dreams, of illusion and allusion, of half-glimpsed sprites and muted industrialisms, looped and looping, congealing and morphing.

"Prayer" confronts as much as it confuses, tantalizing the ear just enough so that all the piece's elements stray barely into realms recognizable. The very sonic tools Jerman utilizes — tinguely's machine, Tibetan prayer wheels, burden busket and drum — mutate intentionally or otherwise; on paper, this collection of noisemakers would yield nothing but bemused disassociation, but in Jerman's adroit hands it becomes the means to augment a proto-junglist sound world, where squeaks and turns of wheels become elephantine cries in the bush, the clattering of steel more the sound of man exerting his imperialist influence rather than directly communing with such covert surroundings. Beyond mere "sound art" (though one could easily envision this work as being quite the severe installation under the right circumstances), "Prayer" alters that word's paradigm in the creation of something wholly alien, yet its very tactility confirms a process born of man and woman.

"Tactus", on the other hand, trades in (yes) more staticized 'scapes, figuratively and literally. Throughout its first fifteen minutes, the sounds of stoked fires, of decaying crackle, simply burn through the speaker fabric (the artist credits stones, volcanoes, shortwave, wire & VLF as means to his ends) until a smoldering aftermath of radio detritus and awry mumblings deep in the night make for unsettling but compelling atmospheres. In general, the most demanding art is usually the most satisfying — in Jerman's case, and for Prayer — Tactus particularly, that truism is made all the more obvious.

Jeph Jerman: Prayer * Tactus Is On Sale at Squidco!