- Recent releases on Experimedia have gone from the guitar-driven post rock of Charles-Eric Charrier to the immersive ambient poetry of Machinefabriek's Piiptsjilling collaboration and the modern folk-classical hybrids of Lüüp and Aaron Martin. But there is nothing like Black Swan. All of the aforementioned names sound pure and pastoral—even the dark stuff—when compared to Black Swan's godless shadows and doom.
The Quiet Divide is a sort of mirror counterpart to recent debut In 8 Movements. Their respective covers would already seem to suggest this, with the debut's obscure equine-like forms straddling the perimeter, reflecting the music's slow strangulation, and The Quiet Divide beginning in the middle and extending outwards. Like In 8 Movements, The Quiet Divide forms a whole, with its climax cycling back onto the opening sequence. The way it gets there, though, is completely different.
Here, the focus is on the divide, the space between tracks. In 8 Movements was, by contrast, more linear and ritualistic, moving inexorably toward the void via a tunnel of ever accumulating darkness. The choral sequences, the distant radio song, the edgy voices and machine noises—they all seem to penetrate and disturb the serene void rather than the other way around. What's more, there are passages here that are almost uplifting, such as the richer runs riddled with vocals towards the end of the first side and the swooping, almost Oxygene-esque chords that open the way for the climax.
Not that the anonymous producer behind the Black Swan moniker is getting happy or anything. Taken alone, The Quiet Divide would easily gain the same accolades as the debut, but having arrived second its true power lies in its mirrored coupling with In 8 Movements and their ability to shine different shades of darkness on each other.
Tracklist01.The Quiet Divide
02. Bleeding Hearts Alliance [Phase 1]
03. DxSxDxH
04. Bleeding Hearts Alliance [Phase 2]
05. Black Eulogy
06. Angel Eyes
07. Chaos Reigns
08. Bleeding Hearts Alliance [Phase 3]
09. White Mourning
10. Drift Theory
11. The Quiet Divide [Reprise]