Maybe I was wrong to expect cosmic synthesizer workouts à la Cluster,
but The Celestial Music of Comfort Link,
the title on its own, certainly calls that to mind. It’s not that. It’s most definitely
not that. But first:
Let’s address the design of the physical artifact, shall we? Gosh, is
this thing stupendous. “Covers and cassette labels are hand-made from 1920s
letterpress celestial diagrams with typewriter text.” Look at that picture up
there and tell me you’re not falling in love with it already. You have to hold
it in your hand to get the full effect, as the paper is this, from an old book,
a piece of history reinscribed with new meaning. It’s delicate and expertly
made. And the cassette is red!
Looks aside, Comfort Link makes music that takes you to other
universes. It’s crafted from found sound, and it’s presented as “spontaneous
tape collage.” As the samples repeat and deteriorate, the audio, piped in from
another place, causes feelings of discovery. It broadcasts the gradual thinning
of a veil that separates worlds, exposing the frayed edges of lost portals. In
fact, the first passage on side A (among other places) even sounds like a
recording of interstellar resonance, looped and processed into patterns. Maybe
it’s the noise a wormhole makes!
This mysterious Baltimore sound artist brings to mind artists like
Basinski, Jeck, and Kirby – certainly heady company. It’s worth tracking down
this tape to get lost in, no matter what you expect. The result is stunning any
way you slice it.
--Ryan Masteller
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