Northern duo Experiment 637 are capable of creating immense beauty and almighty rackets – for evidence of this, see ‘Midday Sun’.
Lockdowns hit Experiment 637 cruelly. Having formed in 2019 and performed just one show together, the pandemic put a temporary pause on live music.
Undeterred, the two-piece wrote prodigiously during this time, enough to complete and release their debut album Sleepwater in 2022. It’s a breezy and expansive listen, with the closing track passing eight minutes.
They are reminiscent of Minnesota rockers Low – at times ferociously peaceful and at others peacefully ferocious.
‘Midday Sun’ is layered. The core song is skeletal, with repeated vocal fragments embellished upon each reprise with a grander instrumental backing. Windswept strings swell intermittently.
It’s instrumentally pleasant but relies heavily on the song’s dense production. The band are not opposed to smart turns of phrase either, continually claiming, for example, that the emperor’s new clothes ‘suit the boy that never grows’.
Conversely, three minutes in and all the song’s beauty is wilfully shattered. Viciously abrasive percussion and distorted guitars propel the song into a whirlwind of noise – wildly piercing speaker cones.
These closing moments are audacious but overkill. The aggression is to be admired but it’s executed messily.
The wildly varied nature of the track makes it a curious listen nonetheless. With its almost Pixies-esque ‘loud-soft’ dynamic, the track is an entertainingly jagged nexus of electronic and indie music at its noisiest.