Description
After spending five years stealthy developing the project through a series of bi-annual and hand- stamped set of releases, eked via his eponymous imprint, in 2011 Sleeparchive joined Tresor with ‘Ronan Point’-an EP of tracks constructed directly from material from Semsroth’s live set. Now comes more fresh works from the master of haunting, compelling minimalism in this first instalment of a two-part EP for the label.
*Taking its title from one of Brassaï’s famous sequence of prints, ‘A Man Dies In The Street Pt.1’ translates the eight snapshots of a man collapsing on a Parisian sidewalk (captured by Brassaï in 1932) into a chilling storyboard of subtle fluctuations, ebbs and monochrome tones. As ever the genius is in the reductive palette, that here Semsroth paints into a rich splay of emotions mimicking the initial anxious discovery of the body, the curiosity of the gathering crowd, the excitement and building anticipation through to an aggressive and pummelling sense of realisation on the close. But is it at the loss of life, or the loss of spectacle? As Brassaï toys with ambiguity in his photographs, Sleeparchive’s music is just as hazy, deep and full of shady nuances that, like treasure, only appear if you’re willing to keep probing.
