Kreng - Works for Abattoir Fermé 2007 - 2011

Pepijn Caudron’s soiled, wall-crawling ambience has been widely acclaimed in recent years, and while he only has two albums out in the world, each one has pushed his sound to deeper, grimier places. These records are not the complete story, however – Caudron has been composing similarly stifling long-form drones for many years in his capacity as a member of the renowned theatre troupe Abattoir Fermé, and ‘Works for Abattoir Fermé 2007-2011’ collects this material over four jam-packed LPs and bundles in a 10” of music composed for the TV show ‘Monster’ as the icing on the cake. On top of the reams of unreleased material we’re treated to full, unedited versions of a handful of tracks included on Caudron’s earlier LPs and it’s a rare pleasure to hear them presented in their original, intended context. This is some of the most epic and evocative dark ambient music this side of Deathprod, and Caudron finally has the space he deserves to show his musical scope and reach. The theatrical reference point is appropriate, but Caudron’s scores are never tempted by the vaudeville, rather they evoke a similar mood that Alan R. Splet and David Lynch achieved in ‘Eraserhead’ or Howard Shore in ‘Videodrome’. There is a sense of widescreen without any of the usual tropes, and this is simply a testament to Caudron’s veteran’s touch.

Each extended side is crafted from an arsenal of samples, disintegrating vinyl and corroded tape, and Caudron manipulates these sounds in a way that belies the sources. Rather than allow the sounds to emerge, they stay trapped beneath swathes of noise, tape delay and oppressive bass giving us a compositions that emerge like a cross between William Basinski, Jerry Goldsmith (circa Alien) and Thomas Koner. ‘Works for Abattoir Fermé is not for the faint of heart, but for the rest of us it might be just what the Doctor ordered…