There was a time when the earliest forms of gangster rap and the heaviest strains of extreme metal could scare me. These days, only the most carefully calculated and absurdly rarified sounds are capable of inducing fear.
“In the Funhouse” and “Weightless Light,” consecutive tracks on Lesley Mok‘s new album transient, give me the willies. Scores to my existential anxieties, the pieces hit me like muffled sounds permeating my coffin in the crypt of a church.
Other tracks are less nightmarish. Portions of “berserk” resemble a meth-addled homage to Herbie Hancock’s “Rockit.” The delicate minimalism of “Caught by the Tides” might appeal to fans of Max Richter.
I became aware of Mok, a New York based percussionist, through their contributions to avant-garde jazz albums like last year’s excellent A Reflection Distorts Over Water. The occasionally terrifying ambient drones of transient are something altogether different.