e/i Magazine [Audio Vérité]
Darren Bergstein | December 10, 2008
Cisfinitum is Russian soundscraper Evgeny Voronovsky, a man whose name doesn't exactly get antenna vibrating, but his original, multi-level approach to environment-crafting damn well should. He's released only a handful of recordings, utilizing all available media at his disposal (CDs, CDRs, MP3 files) to empower his sturdy sonic evolutions; 2007's collaboration with Rapoon surely raised his cred significantly, but Tactio is the one that ought to raise the shackles of the yearning masses. Recorded live in an ancient Roman cathedral where Voronovsky incorporated the space's natural acoustics and spatial dynamics in his compositions, Tactio absorbs the penitent aura of its surroundings, its seven movements a grand display of hushed awe and reverberant mysticism. Clanging bells are blended into coarse, stark textures, their infinite decay left to drift and merge into a series of long, time-slowed drones. Occasionally, strange elements are woven into and out of the mix - a blush of gnarled noise, rolling waves, rhythmic poltergeists - that only serve to heighten an already tense atmosphere on the verge of collapse. On the fifth segment, looped, cascading bells return to signal in a new march of activity colored by the tangs of precious metals and small cyclones threatening to rip the sonic veneer to shreds. Voronovsky eventually coaxes some leathery percussive loops out of his holy mainframe, using them to bring the hissing mantras of the closing sixth movement to an exhausted conclusion. As the tumultuous events gradually wind down, all that's left is the cathedral's natural ambiance embracing both satisfied audience and Voronovsky's spent electronics, the pillars of heaven having been thoroughly shaken and stirred.
