Angelo Harmsworth - Vent (2022)

Holding the tension of opposites is a theme running throughout the work of Angelo Harmsworth, and the six pieces comprising Vent are no exception. Inspired by the different and oftentimes clashing forces comprising our weather systems, the New Mexico-born but now Berlin-based musician and producer envisioned his “compositions as micro-ecologies,” wherein “powerful waves push off one another.” The patterns emerging from this captivating music represent some of Harmsworth’s most complex to date. Swells of foreboding frequencies and jarring maximalist textures may bear down on listeners, yet an undercurrent of bliss–so deeply submerged it borders on the subliminal–manages to infuse even the most tumultuous moments of Vent with a calming groundedness.

And also like the climate, especially in the age of the Anthropocene, this cassette unfolds in ways that are profoundly unpredictable. An artist known for his ability to span the divides separating underground noise, sound design, ambient and industrial, Harmsworth ensures that each successive piece makes a radical break from what preceded it. This quality becomes particularly apparent when contrasting sides. The nearly harsh-noise, distortion-charged moments punctuating Side A are nowhere to be found on Side B, which reveals moments of vast, spectral beauty that reflect his roots in the desert landscapes of the American Southwest.

Of course, this kind of sonic breadth only comes with experience, of which Harmsworth has plenty. Steadily recording and releasing experimental music since the early 2010s, he has worked with some of the sub-underground’s stand-out imprints, including Angoisse, Bathetic Records, Total Black, and Opal Tapes. Placed in the context of his impressive catalog, Vent can be seen as both a continuation of what came before and a bold new development.