Album Reviews

Draw Me A Silence is the first long-player from Azu Tiwaline, a project of the electronic producer and DJ Loan, who has “origins which take root in the Sahara and El Djerid region in the south of Tunisia”. This new incarnation creates “a sound from the desert drawing on Berberian and Saharan trance music that connects human beings with Nature” according to her Bandcamp page.

There is an unmistakable North African influence in the sparse melodic content and rich instrumental palette of this percussive album. In a word, this record is woody. Despite a deep electronic rhythmic punch, myriad hand drums and shakers pepper the sonic landscape with a resonant, organic tone that feels authentic and intimate. The clack of wood on wood, the taut ring of hands on goatskin, the crisp metallic snap of the tar, all hover above a loping, stinging kick drum that grounds the percussive elements. Bowed cymbals shear across the stereo field like sonic flares, dramatic and threatening. Breathy woodwinds weave sinuously between the beats. Resonant log drums hit the perfect sweet spot between the percussive and the tonal. Hissing, fizzing storms swish over precise, clattering drums. And always, underpinning each element, is a thunderous, deep electronic low end, sometimes propulsive, sometimes swelling in potent waves. The atmospheric, hallucinatory qualities of tracks like “Omok” or “Red Viper” demonstrate Azu Tiwaline’s unique and evocative abilities as a producer.

Draw Me A Silence ‘breathes’ in a way that many electronic productions do not. The question of compression is ever-present in discussions about electronic music. Without wishing to re-enact ‘the loudness war’, the attempt to crush as much volume as possible out of sampled and synthesised material can lead to some electronic music sounding squeezed and lifeless. This cannot be said of the impeccable, pristine productions on this record. Every track on this album is spacious, pulsing and alive. It is an album to return to regularly (as I have) to marvel at the clarity and depth of Azu Tiwaline’s faultless production, as much as at the fascinating compositions.

Opening track “Berbeka” delivers a stunning thunk to the chest right from the outset, galloping straight at you, hammering and ricocheting. Even when the tempo goes down a little on tracks such as “Yenna”, you are still guaranteed an emphatic, chunky downbeat. As the bass hits you, the spectral desert noises and rattling percussion conjure a potent sense of place; a disorienting, transporting sense of solitude in desolate nature. And yet, on “Itrik”, here is birdsong fluttering amongst the crunching beats, animals and bells reminiscent of a pastoral escape.

The overall tone is dark, perhaps at times even sinister, weaving a deep sense of dread and wonder through the ten coherently sequenced tracks. The unwary will feel a shiver as the indecipherable whispers and mutterings of “Red Viper” suddenly appear unsettlingly close to your ear, a brooding human presence looming out of the darkness, evoking primal fears like one of David Lynch’s backward monologues. But closing track “Izen Zaren” is consoling, with a haunting harmonic drone and a muted rhythmic core.

My pressing of this double LP is punchy, clean and renders higher frequency elements with startling realism in three-dimensional space. It goes without saying that the low end is visceral, deep and satisfying. This record can be played loud (and you should) without rawness, distortion or pressing artifacts. You will not get lost in this record; it is presented with an obsessive, driving potency that will keep you in a state of sonic hyper-vigilance from start to finish. IOT Records is a French company, and Azu Tiwaline recorded this double LP in Marseille, with mastering by Dominique “Dume” Poutet. It is a deeply exciting recording; I would suggest that many listeners who may be indifferent to music of this type will find the sonic qualities truly absorbing. Even if you don’t like it, you will not be left wondering if your subwoofer is working.

Unless another artist has something even more awe-inspiring already in the can, Draw Me A Silence is my album of 2020. Musically, it is a truly innovative blend of hypnotic rhythm, evocative, sparse melody, and dense, compelling low frequencies. Emotionally, it opens realms of space and sensations of transportation, augmented by field recordings of the North African soundscape which are entrancing and stimulating. Sonically, it is close to perfection in terms of depth, balance, clarity, ingenuity and power. Azu Tiwaline has re-shaped world music, dub techno and electronica into an innovative new form. I sincerely hope this magnificent LP is an inspiration to other musicians and producers from beyond the First World. If you have a sound system that can transport you, allow Azu Tiwaline to transport you somewhere dark, entrancing, and deep.

Stream on Qobuz.

AnalogPlanet welcomes new contributor Mark Dawes. Dawes lives in Glasgow, Scotland and works in a university on a widening access project for schools, helping kids from disadvantaged backgrounds to apply for college or university. He says he’s always worked in education, schools, college, universities or community education. One of his previous jobs involved setting up and running a small community recording studio, as well as running a mobile electronic music facility going around community centers. He says, “That was fun”.