Combining synthetic and organic sounds together can be a difficult creative task, particularly when the music isn't obviously intended as either radio friendly pop or wild experimentalism. Getting that balance of intriguing, nuanced sounds with a cohesive and palatable soundscape can sometimes evade even the most talented artists. In the late 90s and early 2000s musicians like Squarepusher and Max Tundra became masters of this skill, and although Irish musician Limnetic Villains doesn't have the same overtly electroacoustic sound as either of those, their sound definitely manages to bridge a gap between the electronic and the elemental. Producing an instrumental indie infused style of electro dance on latest album Multiple Divisions, Limnetic Villains manages to place both the synthetic and organic sounds together into a perfect equilibrium where it becomes hard to completely define one from the other.
Limnetic Villains is a one-person project, and despite the variable nature of sounds on Multiple Divisions, there is a uniquely immutable focus across the album. Every track feels purposeful even within the dreamy landscapes and mystical night time visions which Limnetic Villains conjures up. It's hard to exactly define, but there's something about this album that evokes both the joyously suffocating ambience of a packed out club as well as the vacuous empty streets of a city at 3am. There's isolation within the noise, and there is comfort within the expanse.
In terms of musical comparisons, the most obvious one I hear across Multiple Divisions is The Knife. The album often finds itself adapting the Swedish duos familiar combination of bouncy, percussive synths and fun but dramatic melodies into restrained rave tracks or catchy electro numbers. Listening to tracks like Little Insurrection, Subunit, Fukuzawa Yukichi or Hattifattener (a nice Moomin reference, by the way) you can easily imagine Karin Dreijer's eclectic vocals soaring over each of them.
I also find some interesting influences from Aphex Twin's more coherent works too, with modules of aggressive and glitchy synths in the likes of Alienism and Indie Rave Posers. While Multiple Divisions never finds itself too far inside the terrifyingly abstract, there are definite moments of disquiet. Whether it's in the dark, smothering synths of Invisible Mask or the glaring, percussive melodies of Fukuzawa Yukichi, you're never too far away from a sound that will keep you on edge.
There's some wonderful elements from shoegaze which come unexpectedly amongst the jittering beats and thumping basslines. Tracks such as Papadoplous and Subunit are woven around these wonderful noisey waves of psychedelic drones. They wash over in a particularly hypnotic way that's reminiscent of the sound experiments of Health or the late Ben Curtis. It's a nice contrast to some of the more forceful and beat heavy tracks such as Hattifattener and Invisible Mask, or the darker industrial leaning tracks such as Little Insurrection and Correlate This, all of which have moments where they really hit hard.
There's also three shorter, almost glacial interludes: Glass Boy, Augmented Eye and A Psychic Caught In The Rain. Although initially they feel a bit like ideas that were never fully fleshed out, on repeat listens their purpose becomes clearer. These tracks really help to enforce the atmospheric layers of the album with short, subtle bursts of sonic joy, and whilst I wouldn't say they are essential, they do allow the listener to really understand this album as a complete piece rather than just a well organised collection of individual tracks.
Multiple Divisions is not merely an album that is immediately enjoyable, but also one that grows on repeat listens into something remarkably addictive. There's a strong variety of tones and timbres within the record, yet it also produces a stirring thread that pervades through the record. It's hard to pinpoint any specific stand-out track because they are all made inexplicably more delightful when the album is listened to as a whole. Limnetic Villains has crafted a stunning and rather intelligent album of dance music that puts the enveloping atmosphere of sound as it's primary focus.
Limnetic Villains is currently donating profits from music sales to the Irish Cancer Society, incluing a sale of their entire discography.
You can listen to and purchase all their music on Bandcamp.
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