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Chiasm: Disorder

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Artist: Chiasm (@)
Title: Disorder
Format: CD
Label: COP International
There's an intangible quality, a certain sense of coherence,that usually accompanies a true solo album. Chiasm's debut album "Disorder" is a solo work in the strictest sense of the term, and it shows. The ghost haunting a machine vibe of this album make for a unique and darkly enjoyable experience.With vocals alternately floating, crooning or hissing alongside the distinctly mechanical mixture of electronic drums, pulsing synths and occasional dialogue sample this is one of those banshee albums that sucks you in and won't let go until it ends."Cold" adds a touch of piano to the mix and manages to stalk, entrance and sadden all in the same five minutes.The more drum intensive "Fight" takes up the bpm count a bit and the sense of urgency with it."Chiasm 5.0 " and "Isolated" both have menacing enough rhythms to appropriately augment their snarled tales of abandonment.Distance and separation, be it her trying to distance herself (I will remain alone this time/until I know for sure what's mine), or her being distanced from others (have no choice but be isolated/struggling/left alone/apart/pushed aside/made segregated/struggling/left alone/apart), is very much a reoccurring theme here.It does work very well with the disorienting nature of the music though.The album closing "Someone" stands apart from the rest and is a very effective piece in spite of itself seeing as singing over seven minutes of the same glitchy beat doesn't sound too great in theory.The bold nakedness of it all pulls it off in spades though.Ms. Rohn's top flight set of pipes doesn't exactly hurt things either, in fact a lot of this material really couldn't be pulled off by someone with a lesser vocal range.Might as well write to your strengths I suppose.Not much really to nit-pick here,it's actually kind of scary when you consider that this is self-produced and only her first,what may come with experience and more toys to play with.

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