- Russell Haswell's career has been nothing if not varied, so his recent engagement with repetitive beats seems more like a temporary mutation than a wild change in direction. 37 Minute Workout, his previous album for Diagonal, was a fairly focused engagement with the kind of aggressive, distorted beats that have defined Powell's label. As Sure As Night Follows Day is broader in scope, and integrates Haswell's more abstract noise work with his new approaches.
With 17 tracks stretching over 48 minutes, As Sure As Night Follows Day is far from an easy listen. It refuses to settle into any kind of flow, changing at will from the techno approximations of "Wholly Unaware" and "Gas Attack" into the self-explanatory rush of "Rave Splurge nO!se FM." While the differences between tracks sometimes seem great, Haswell is most interesting when bridging these contrasts together. "Hardwax Flashback" starts as a fairly conventional acid track, a 303-style bassline winding itself around straight kick drums and claps. During its three-minute run, each element stutters or moves out of its comfort zone, becoming distorted or pitched way, way up. By baking his experimentation into a recognisable form, Haswell's disruptions become moments to be anticipated, giving every skip or splutter an added thrill.
An album this diverse and unfathomable requires a certain receptiveness from the listener. Some days the plodding, off-grid kicks of "Champagne Walk" won't sound exciting, nor will "Underwater Electronic Stuggle" when it refuses to become anything more than resonant noise. These tracks make sense within the context of the album, providing some kind of reprieve, but they can also suck out any momentum generated by the energetic pieces.
Noise music is often described simply as "challenging," though it can be just as easily ignored despite its aggression and bombast. Haswell's great talent lies in making the challenges of his music—its irregular rhythms and abrasive textures—sound enticing, a welcome risk rather than a pointless, deadening bludgeon. At its best, As Sure As Night Follows Day sparks a curiosity about the edges of sounds, forms and technologies. It has an almost voyeuristic interest in what happens when habits, preconceptions and assurances begin to break down. Amid the sound of everything coming apart, it all feels strangely alive.
Tracklist01. Oblique Axis
02. Let's Go
03. Wholly Unaware
04. Champagne Walk
05. Rave Splurge nO!se FM
06. Improvisation #1
07. In The Air Today
08. Gas Attack
09. Interlude
10. Drive (Minimal)
11. Heavy Handed Sunset
12. Underwater Electronic Struggle
13. Confirmation Of Our Worst Fears
14. Hardwax Flashback
15. Broken Mantra
16. Extended Industry Knowledge (For Oscar)
17. nO!se Rave