- As Golden Mean, Sabisha Friedberg and Tyler Wilcox make process-driven experimental music that appeals to the mind as much as the body. Friedberg studied electro-acoustic composition at Mills College, with respected faculty like David Behrman, before heading to Paris to hone her vocal technique. Wilcox woodsheds as a free improvisation saxophonist and composes while studying at Bard College. Friedberg has long aimed to make a record that pairs formal compositional with the loose sensuality of dance music. She found an ideal collaborator in Wilcox, an avid devotee of The Loft-inspired New York disco and house nights like 718 Sessions and JOY.
The duo's debut for Aaron Siegel's FIT Sound doesn't sound much like Wilcox's soulful deep house or the Detroit electro and techno Friedberg grew up with. "Resonance" trades in a brittle, decadent gloom that recalls the ominous mood of Shelter Press cofounder Félicia Atkinson. Friedberg layers a chorus of her own vocals to start the track, not unlike fellow Mills College alumna Holly Herndon, before launching into an arresting spoken word on the perils of all-consuming lust. When Friedberg says, "I'm suffocating at this doomed pleasure," we feel trapped as well.
Golden Mean plays it as clean and sparse as possible. They refer to "Resonance" as a "subtractive composition," in which samples and hardware sequences are chiseled down to their most minimal essence. This means the melodies don't characterize so much as haunt the original track and the "Toxic Mix." The latter's propulsive bass figure makes it more DJ-friendly, but both versions, as well as the acapella, could cast a spell over the right dance floor. A seamless combination of theoretical rigor and dark functionality, Resonance is academic body music.
TracklistA1 Resonance
A2 Resonance (Acappella)
B1 Resonance (Toxic Mix)