The first release by Swedish noise outfit Alta was made with a portable studio rig that allowed users to record and play back individual pieces of music. But Alta’s latest release on Amorphous Minds, was recorded in a modified basement apartment, and is all the more powerful for it.
The initial components of the project were made from an old cardboard box that contains a piece of tape. The tape contains a series of 10 loops that are each comprised of one of two shapes: “A’” is a half-minute of guitar and keyboard, and “B’” a half-minute of tape, with each loop enclosed in a sphere of light. The looping of the tape ends with an abrupt termination.
The project’s first half is an ambient affair, as the sound of a single accordion pattered through the air. “A-1” begins as a low rumble, before veering into a blip of static – and then quickly picking up the pace, as the tape itself begins to rumble again. “A-10” starts with a scrap of tape and a few brief chords before gradually increasing the speed of the tape to a point where the tones are more audible than the tape itself.
The tape loop on “A-11” is followed by a series of tape loops that are subdivided into pieces that are further subdivided into tape loops. Eventually, they become too dense and overwhelming for the user to handle – so the user has to right click and drag the individual elements to reveal their full potential. “A-13” is the most difficult part of the project. The tones are only barely visible, but the tape itself is rapidly becoming a giant slab of sound – and the tape itself now sounds like a compressed audio file.
As the tape progresses, more and more elements are added to the tape loops, until the tape is thick enough to press against the walls of the room. “A-15” opens with a few pieces of tape, but the tape itself soon becomes a massive, clamorous blob of sound. “A-19” comes closer to the fundamental idea of Alta than most of the other works on the EP. A few minutes of tape are sandwiched between a series of barks. “A-20” comes off more like a guitar solo than a piece of tape.