The 5th Apple

Reviews

A Closer Listen (UK)
In this day and age, it’s hard to find original music, but there are still unopened tombs and places yet to be raided. Enter Alina Kalancea and her album The 5th Apple, a genuinely unique set which leans into the dark.

Kalancea mixes spoken word with subterranean bass frequencies and evolving, dark electronics. Deep insights and deeper introspections lay in and among her crawling sentences, and the music grows within the womb of its deep musings and philosophies. Building a nest.

The Romanian sound artist’s music stealthily enters the room, creeping around with borderline maliciousness as her spiky words nestle in the centre. When her voice drops out, the varying tones quickly invade, amassing as one as they take over, adding even more power to the words even in the absence of them. The music is a continuation of her philosophical discourse: in the same way that the use of punctuation and the flow of speech will bring out the music of diction and the rhythm of words, Kalancea’s music has an underlying rhythm which can be felt within its regular and frequent electronic blips and pregnant, drooping bass-quakes.

Insectile rhythms lead to a larger respiratory system, giving life to the record and providing a dialogue within its clicks and chirps. Kalancea’s scathing tone comes through every now and then, angry at something deep within the system. The electronics are sharp and quick-firing, rapid in their use of punctuation.

The 5th Apple has an insidious nature – taking a single bite will prove fatal.

‘If you are trying to get free, don’t move too much. You will end up like an insect in a toxic spider’s cobweb’

Chameleon tones morph, shimmering like a halogen, gleaming like steel, directly in front of the listener. It’s an ongoing transformation, and its sound becomes deeply hypnotic. The electronics help to form a meditative experience, although it won’t ever be used in relaxation. Sharing something with the practice of meditation, Kalancea’s words are a dark entwining.

The electronic chattering wraps itself around the listener in neon and often alien colours, and a subtle, cosmic-ambient background adds an eerie layer. Like the music of Steve Roach, the sound allows one to zone out, but the unfathomable wonder of its limitless environment can make mere humans tremble. The sound digests and reflects deeply upon the message, processing it with its intelligent scanners, and the stunning electronics provide a nice contrast to the deep listening of which spoken word demands.

The sounds are as sharp as a sword, expressing and articulating valid fears with a shared voice. The natural, lonesome sound of dripping water and the digital electronic patterns, which circle in a cycle of tension and anticipation, create an incredible experience. Unsettling strings help to form undercurrents of barely-withheld distress, growing like mould in the recesses of the mind.

The 5th Apple comes from a mental or spiritual abyss, a place submitting to the totality of a blackout. For while the spoken word illuminates the record, there’s no denying that the world it inhabits is a dark one, populated by a host of psychological creepy crawlies, modern-day warnings, and inner demons.

Although the sound brightens, there’s something disquieting about its glimmering light. Something untrustworthy within its spectral, obfuscating glare despite a beckoning finger. Kalancea is a tireless aural explorer, and her music is equally restless. Sound artists Alex Gámez, Julia Kent, and Raven Bush all collaborate on the album, helping to shape its snarling textures and wiry sounds. Like the looping underworld it finds itself in, the hives of noise, the flexible articulations, and the sonic whisperings demand multiple repetitions.

James Catchpole
acloserlisten.com

Toneshift (USA)
My first impression of Romanian sound artist Alina Kalancea is a double-take. Partly because every image of her visage on the web is partly obscured, even her own site appearing somewhat faceless – but most of all because her sound is more like the essence of perfume than anything else. Though she’s been at it for years this is her debut album. The eight pieces (an additional hour plus work is available in the full set) presented on The 5th Apple are atomized like fine molecules bursting in mid air. It runs the gamut from high drama to densely woven drones disappearing into a void. And this coming from someone who is quite discerning on how the human voice is incorporated into modern music, especially when it is spoken word.

TONE + DRONE: Kalancea speaks of isolation and emotions, of minimalism and the body, speaking in English with a rich accent in a vaguely confrontational tone. The structure upon entry (Imbalance) is simple with only light analogue synths, some moderated bleeps and bloops and a reverbed vocal – it’s effective and a bit of an instruction manual of sorts. On the title track, out from the recesses comes a cosmic modulation bathed in heady drone. Growing into billows of near static there’s something quite mesmerizing about the gait here, almost the soundtrack of a man on death row taking his final steps, heavy yet more reflective than dispirited. Subtle dripping….She’s now nabbed my restraint.

The proceedings are quite poetic, even in its warnings: “If you are trying to get free, don’t move too much, you will end up like an insect in a  toxic spider’s cobweb in the balance.” And there are nuggets of wisdom and fear scattered throughout, never becoming too dark, just looming like subtle reminders that human nature has become volatile.  In Fears Kalancea conjures a dreamscape of layers: deep drones, bright bell tones and an infusion of raw industrial striations. Together these effects form a protective blanket that surrounds the listener from any outside forces, but all is still visible just outside this thin barrier.

The overall atmosphere dances between a contemporary take on themes found in classical baroque, shaded ambient and the fallout of civilization. This is most evocative on Poisonous Girl where the singer’s voice whispers in song that then swirls into cloak-in-dagger echoes. The vocal is haunting, exquisite – only further emphasized by the crackle of fire…or is it rain? Credit for this mesmerizing work must also go to collaborators: Alex Gámez (Asférico), Julia Kent and Raven Bush who have truly done an outstanding job permeating the dynamics of this record.

The 5th Apple rides this incredibly thin line between introspection and bold statement. The ambient textures are hypnotic (Behind The Curtains, Limbo), and the albums’ themes are acutely embellished with a swelling conceptual prowess. Elongated chords dip into a chasm of the unknown, and if you are paying attention, the sacred fruit will be all yours. In the meantime, the elusive, snakelike rasp of Devil’s Lullaby is a drawn-out apt conclusion to an unexpected, atmospheric sleeper.

Get this record…like now.

TJ Norris
toneshift.net

Groove (DE)

Die rumänische, in Modena in Italien lebende Klangkünstlerin und akademisch geschulte elektronische Komponistin Alina Kalancea erforscht auf ihrem Debütalbum The 5th Apple (Störung) ebenfalls düstere Soundscapes und verknüpft diese mit Poesie am Rande von Song und Track. Der Kontrast von flickerigem Dark Ambient und bassigen Cold-Drones aus der Modularsynthesizer-Schrankwand mit dem intensiven, stark in den Vordergrund produzierten Textvortrag ergibt einen wundervoll ungemütlichen introspektiv extrovertierten Soundtrack zu finsteren Tagen.

Frank P. Eckert
groove.de

Baddpress (CA)

This debut from Alina Kalancea comes out of a six-year period of experimentation with electronics and voice. Through a series of collaborations, stage performances and studio sessions, the Romanian artist says she has been working to develop a sound she can call her own. In this sense, The 5th Apple is more than just a first recording. It’s a fully realized, 53-minute artistic mission statement.

Along the way, Kalancea has studied with Enrico Cosimi, professor of electronic music at the University of Rome Tor Vergata. She’s also worked with Steven Thomas, a professor of physics at Queen Mary University in London and an artist familiar to BADD PRESS readers, Alex Gámez (a.k.a. Asférico). Gámez runs the Störung label and studio in Barcelona, where The 5th Apple was recorded.

It is a haunting, nuanced, occasionally anxious work. It is primarily, but not exclusively electronic. (We also get a lovely cello contribution by Julia Kent and strings by Raven Bush.) Layered over top of all this sophistication, spoken-word pieces showcase Kalancea as a talented poet.

Dark, yes. But this is no gothic pose. Kalancea has produced a deeply relatable work of audio art. While The 5th Apple dropped Dec. 21, for me it is the first great release of the new year.

Kevin Press
baddpress

Art Noir Musik Magazin (CH)
Wer in Rumänien aufwächst, der ist meist eher weit von den grossen Städten wie New York entfernt. Trotzdem vermag es die Musik von Alina Kalancea innert weniger Sekunden eine Wirkung aufzubauen, welche die Atmosphäre der Moloche zu imitieren und verändern vermag. “The 5th Apple” heisst ihr neustes Album und zeigt mit einer grandiosen Zurückhaltung, dass elektronische Tracks und gesprochene Texte sehr wohl die Welt umfassen können. Herkunft, ein Wort, das schlussendlich auch nur dazu dient, die Entdeckungsfahrten zu leiten.

Das Album, welches Alina Kalancea mit der Unterstützung einiger Klangkünstler vorgelegt hat, ist das perfekte Beispiel eines düsteren und oft unscheinbaren Hörspiels. Tracks wie der Titelsong oder “Fears” leben von der Dunkelheit, der Reduktion in Klang und Spuren. Einzelne Synthesizer und Effekte führen die Unscheinbarkeit in das schummrige Licht. Dabei ist die Platte eher unheimlich als intensiv direkt – erzeugt aber genau darum eine experimentelle Situation, welche die elektronische Musik greifbar macht. Einzelne Streicher, geschickt gewählte Wörter, mehr als Musik.

“The 5th Apple” ist wie ein verlorenes Kind des Film Noir, ohne Bilder aber mit viel Ausdruck. Da vermengen sich separierte und helle Töne bei “Limbo” zum Stoff der unruhigen Träume, da wiegt man sich in den eigenen Armen in Sicherheit. Wenn am Ende der Teufel vorbeischaut, dann erstaunt dies niemanden, es ist die logische Ergänzung – wie damals bei Plastikman. Und wenn bei Alina Kalancea nicht alles sofort Sinn ergibt, hier geht es um die Eingabe, die Bereitschaft. Mit jedem Mal wird das Werk grösser, gut so.

Michael Bohli
artnoir.ch

Amusio (DE)
Die gebürtige Rumänin Alina Kalancea kreiert auf ihrem Debütalbum eine beeindruckende Aura aus Kontemplation, Kontamination, schleichender Bedrohung und wohligem Entsetzen. Mit dafür verantwortlich ist der von ihr selbst immersiv vorgetragene Spoken Word-Anteil, dessen anfängliche Dominanz jedoch im weiteren Verlauf immer mehr in den Hintergrund tritt. So als verstumme sie selbst – aus Respekt vor den behutsam, aber voluminös texturierten Soundscapes, von denen insbesondere die schichtweise modulierten Streicher-Passagen offenbar dazu auserkoren wurden, in die finstersten Ecken des Bewusstsein zu locken, – um sie anschließend mutig auszuleuchten. So geht Aufklärung heute. Ferner flößt das durchweg getragene Tempo der Ereignisse Ehrfurcht ein. Mit der Betonung auf Furcht!

Stephan Wolf
amusio.com

Rock Decibels (FR)
Le premier album d’Alina Kalancea, The 5th Apple, est une expérience forte de par sa puissance d’envoutement, équivalent d’un voyage vénéneux dans des profondeurs troublantes, gorgées de basses accueillantes et de froideurs hypnotiques.

Alina Kalancea propose un univers d’une intensité sinueuse, construit à coups de strates en apesanteur et de couches fragiles aux subtilités superposées.

The 5th Apple prend aux tripes et joue avec les sensations, faisant flotter des mots récités avec parcimonie, nous transportant du coté d’un fantastique invisible au contact permanent avec nos peurs et nos perceptions. C’est un opus qui revisite avec virtuosité les plages d’un ambient déviant à la beauté troublante.

Composé comme une succession de tableaux cinématographiques, The 5th Apple s’écoute comme un film de l’intérieur, bousculant minutieusement les codes pour les déplacer hors des frontières, dessinant les contours d’un univers singulier à l’intensité ensorcelante. Un disque dans lequl il convient de mordre.

rock-decibels.org

SilenceAndSound (FR)
Le premier album d’Alina Kalancea, The 5th Apple, est une expérience forte de par sa puissance d’envoutement, équivalent d’un voyage vénéneux dans des profondeurs troublantes, gorgées d’infrabasses accueillantes à la froideur hypnotique.

Alina Kalancea propose un univers d’une intensité sinueuse, construit à coups de strates en apesanteur et de couches fragiles aux subtilités superposées.

The 5th Apple prend aux tripes et joue avec les sensations, faisant flotter les spoken words avec parcimonie, nous transportant du coté d’un fantastique invisible au contact permanent avec nos peurs et nos perceptions. C’est un opus qui revisite avec virtuosité les plages d’un ambient déviant à la beauté troublante.

Composé comme une succession de tableaux cinématographiques, The 5th Apple s’écoute comme un film de l’intérieur, bousculant minutieusement les codes pour les déplacer hors des frontières, dessinant les contours d’un univers singulier à l’intensité ensorcelante. Un des très grands disques de cette année. VITAL.

Roland Torres
silenceandsound.me