- Designed by NASA, the Torino Scale catalogues the range of probabilities and consequences of a collision between our planet and another celestial body. It ranges from 0 - No Hazard, which includes small objects that burn up in the atmosphere, to 10 – Certain Collisions, which concerns inevitable impacts "capable of causing global climactic catastrophe." It is essentially a threat-o-meter, and gives astronomers a means of giving shape to danger by assigning it a number.
The Torino Scale, the first solo full-length from Supersoul Recordings mastermind Xaver von Treyer, gives shape to danger in its various incarnations through suspense and atmosphere. At times danger lurks in the mist, as on the moody, Martian trip-hop of "We Are Alien," elsewhere it is desperately imminent, as in the barreling "LexParismoniae," whose red-alert synth stabs and swooping pads evoke a hyperspeed air drone closing in on its unsuspecting target.
I should note here that it's desperately difficult to describe von Treyer's record, an auteurish, meticulous affair, without resorting to sci-fi imagery. This is in part due to the track titles, which could be chapters torn from a Heinlein novel, and partly from the evocative, cinematic nature of von Treyer's synthesizer compositions, honed from stints scoring for theater and film. And fittingly enough, when you import the album into iTunes, the tracks show up tagged as Classical—it's as if the Genre tag on mp3s now acts like the unconsciousness of music, revealing what the composer was thinking, even if it's not at all readily apparent.
The most soundtrack-y piece here is the exquisite "Jerusalem Syndrome," where muted guitar patterns and ambient percussion bursts swarm around the droney harmonics of amplified violin, drawn out into mournful, legato sighs. This is definitely the part of the film where the hero realizes the entire population of the metropolis has been rendered undead by a mutant virus, and he must now face a horrible, post-human landscape with stoic resolve. Its successor, "Spit from the Sun," is an epic fantasy unto itself—opening with defiant voice crackling over radio transmission, it builds steam into a four-on-the-floor burner, only to curiously swerve, striking a bizarre, wet handclap head-on which seems to invade the track like a parasite, harvesting its energy. "Love Is A Drum" and "Solar Fire" move into floor-friendly cosmic disco along the lines of Lindstrom and Moroder—the latter showing off von Treyer's knack for intertwined keyboard lines.
In case, however, you were tricked into thinking that this record would conform to the arc of a movie soundtrack (as I was), the concluding title track is enough to jolt you from your expectations. It's another world unto itself, a raucous seven minutes of shimmering feedback, military drums and laser cannons, sounding something akin to getting caught in a meteor shower. With its catalogue of violent bursts and explosions, the track perhaps functions like a sonic Torino scale in itself.
Tracklist 01. Electric Mist
02. We Are Alien
03. Jerusalem Syndrome
04. Spit From The Sun
05. Lunar Rover (Otao Okami)
06. Lex Parsimoniae
07. Love Is A Drum
08. Solar Fire
09. For A Fistful Of Acid
10. She Is My Virgo Supercluster
11. The Torino Scale