class valedictorian- Set Dressing

A few weeks ago Scott Fair, the lead guitarist and producer of Mandy, Indiana, shared "class valedictorian", the debut song from his new solo project, Set Dressing. "class valedictorian" isn't quite cut from the same avant-garde noise rock/techno hybrid that M,I's music is, but the unsettling allure that band cultivates so instinctively is very much present here. Droning strings and enveloping layers of white noise immediately emerge from the ether, establishing the foreboding, glacial pace that never veers off course. This is music that lives up to the ambient ideal, but unfurls with its own sinister modus operandi.

A synth arpeggio counter melody joins the fold within short order, followed by what sounds like understated vibraphone, and finally deep organ swells that cast a long shadow over the proceedings, but the minimalist repetition persists, with an almost oppressive adherence to the same tempo, dynamics, and tone from start to finish. As with M,I's music, the production and sound design on "class valedictorian" is sublime, with richly-rendered, seismic tones, particularly in the low-end, that could just lay you flat on the right set of speakers. It's extremely satisfying to hear the dread and tension of M,I's music distilled seamlessly into the context of ambient music. The shapes may shift, but the darkness persists.