Valley Swerve - ONI-ISM (review)
This horror-IDM fictional soundtrack is Valley Swerve’s magnum opus, masterfully crafted with modern ambient techniques and classic UK beats.
Score: 9/10
For all of its occult auras and j-horror themes, there are woozy synths, atmospheric sounds, and crisp breakbeats that make this album pleasantly divine. As a soundtrack to a non-existent horror film, the tracks are more like suites in a singular 17-minute song — short and digestible like a mixtape, but cohesive enough to work like an album. This is Valley Swerve’s magnum opus, which takes inspiration from Japanese folklore and various 90’s UK electronic styles (trip-hop, big beat, drum n bass) and turn it into ambient soundscapes that are fit for a global palate.
The album starts with exposition from one of the film’s characters, but the music does the talking as the song hits the ground running with a propulsive slick breakbeat. The electronics behind the drums create an ominous backdrop that sounds like a distant thick smog overtaking the skies. The flood of visuals this album can put in your mind can’t be overstated.
The eeriness continues into The Oni’s Gaze but with a slowed pace. The first half has a soft pulse and tempo, while the second half is a rainy urban vignette — much like fellow IDM artist Burial’s ambient pieces — that creates a sense of being wet, cold, and abandoned.
Swerve drops the dread and adds mystique in one of the most instantly gratifying tracks, Downpour on the Temple Steps, with it’s gorgeous bell riff, blaring ghostly saxophone, and the album’s funkiest breakbeat that’s worthy of an Adult Swim commercial bump. There’s much of the same in the next track, Foggy Mist and Hazy Streets, giving the formula a one-two punch.
In Typewriter in the Tool Shed, the album’s sound drives into a higher gear as glistening sci-fi synths zip around over a rapid jungle/DnB beat. Apparition Haunting Grounds is the sequel that drives the panic even higher with its cluttered drums, twinkling horror bells, and synth crescendos.
The intensity of Mindless Game Deathtrap and Nightmare Wonderland sounds like dark drone versions of classic big-beat producers like The Crystal Method. All the pump-it-up energy is recreated, but with layers of hazy occult dissonance rolling over it. Swerve explores the experimental side of progressive house music in Dance of the Shaman with deep four-on-the-floor bass, tribal drums, and samples of what sounds like a snarling supernatural creature over haunting ambience. The primal experience is the most trance-inducing moment of the album. The song bleeds into the finale: A Soul Decaying into Heaven. It’s a swirling psychedelic noise track that keeps the horror theme intact, while adding a sense of spirituality for closure.
Dark atmospheres, enticing rhythms, and impeccable production and sound design make this album a highlight of the year. Call it trip-hop. Call it IDM. Call it what you want. But these genres feel like they’ve been reinvigorated after decades spent in obscurity, ironically by making it more obscure with the dark and foreign sources of inspiration. Like many stories in folklore around the world, these songs tap into our collective fear and unease, while satisfying our universal propensity for grooves and soothing sonics.
Score: 9/10
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