Interlocking

Shoal corrals three original solo productions into ISOTOOP’s fourth record, each
demonstrating refinement of the artist’s sound and technique, finished by a
fitting retelling of ‘Interlocking’ by Antony Linell.

It begins with helical hypnotism; ‘Strange Blue Knots’ drives directly forward
on muscular bass, but pointillistic synthwork creates an aural illusion of a
spiral aperture tightening; the landscape remains broad, but focus is drawn down
to the loci of motion. All containment is blown away by the incomparable force
of ‘Roxellana’. Here, the forward motion is not illusory but the irrefutable
command of hurricane tailwinds. Thunder heralds full-band waves of unbridled
sound, and though the rudder is surrendered to the billowing storm, no part of
the weapon is directionless chaos.

Shoal’s tale concludes with ‘Interlocking’, a step back from the monstrous
energy of the preceding track (anything and all would be); attention is built
again on guile and quiet magnetism, commonly felt attributes throughout the
artist’s repertoire. This concept of restraint as force receives a sharpening by
Antony Linell, whose sonic influence is present throughout the record, like
fossilised footprints. In the calm, sheltered lee of the mountain, the slope
behind the wave’s punching crest, Linell’s calmer, stripped-back version feels
like a fireside retelling of a myth; still full of the magnitude of the original
events, the space surrounding the action is foregrounded. 

Every tale may be reduced to the same core elements: the hand; the knife it
holds; vivid silence presaging the moment of action. Fitting that the tale of
three parts is summarised by a fourth, wider perspective.