Most of the releases by Modelbau I buy /get /review are on either CD /CDR or some less accessible formats like MiniDisc, DAT or cassette. Anything flat with grooves is a one-of-a-kind with the amount of releases he has. Sure, recently, the lathe cut on Spaltung /licht-ung and we had the double vinyl collaboration with Scanner on Moving Furniture, but the fact is that if Modelbau is released on vinyl, we know in advance it’s something special. A release with a story in general or something that elevates your mind somehow, Something that makes you think. And the new album “Blackout”, as released by what’s becoming my favourite Massachusetts-based label, is no different.
The story of “Blackout” is in the pictures used for this release. These pictures are by Serhiy Ristenko, and they were shot in the winter of 2022 in Kyiv during a bombing by Russia. The beauty of the photographs – and where Lob did a great job with the layout and pinpointing the balance of the art – triggered Modelbau to create two pieces based on the feeling of being locked in during a time of war. Isolated in a blackout. So the trigger, the concept, and the offer to release an album were there. Next step, Frans went to work on the tracks, which he did in late ’22 and early ’23.
The first side of the album was given the title “All comms are down in, probably, six parts”. From the exact moment it produces sound, you’re captivated. A loud burst of white noise pierces your speakers, and if you put your volume on that sound being ‘just’ below painful, don’t change the volume dial. Enjoy the ride. The 19-minute track has, as we know of Modelbau, a lot of different approaches to what you hear. Synth sounds / drones layer balancing on the level of where feedback hurts or becomes uncontrollable. Radio sounds as if we’re hiding from the bombs, hoping for some words of hope or the message that it is safe again to go outside. The constant threat of being bombed again and the absence of humanity … And then the knowledge of the photographer Serhiy Ristenko, whom we can tell you is a soldier of the Ukrainian army. Fighting to protect the country and the people still living there. Do you realize that it will be two years precisely this week?
Turning the vinyl gives us another 19 minutes of music – “The unwanted disruption of ordinary lives in, no doubt, four parts”. This track is way more subdued than the other side. The sounds are more organic; there is even a small toy box melody in there, and piano tunes are closing the track. And then there was silence, the clicking of the needle in the final groove. The feeling of the ‘unwantedness’ for me is stronger than the ‘disruption’ in the title, but having written those words, I realize it’s the ordinary lives that really matter. Innocent lives are being taken, ordinary lives are being disrupted, nothing is the same as before, and all people can do is adapt. Fight. Cry. Survive. Try to… For me, that is the feeling that comes with this album, which is not an easy one to listen to, but it needed to be made, and it’s a gorgeous piece of art.
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