Review Summary: 92982 stands on its own completely from Basinski's past archived looping works, but it adds an easier concept to digest and understand. Beautifully constructed to suit the listener, 92982 is engagingly sorrowful.
There is something beyond the horizon that resonates within Basinski's work. That shattered chord that bumped moved so eloquently without hesitation in
Disintegration Loops I-IV was simultaneously ominous and sinister, while carrying an abundance of life. The decrepit , dying noises that offered long hours of loops that mimicked our deepest desires for tranquility while enjoyably injecting stirring developments of energy and death. What could be more human than this? Something that took 20 years to produce, not by choice or labor, but by the very thing that makes everything around us alive. Slowly we all fall apart and this is why Basinski's work seems to resonate more than most ambient artists. And while
92982 is beautifully constructed with its somber tone in an almost vindictive sense, its looping source of music still remains, what would seem cloaked and constructed is impartially represented. Another work of Basinski's past is pushed through and this once former crafted ambiance is all, but unrecognizable as it was when he made it on a cool stormy night in 1982.
92982, much like Basinski's past collections of work becomes ambivalent to the listener upon beginning listen; eventually the progressions within each track predominately ramp up on each other, creating a widely constructed, almost purposeful sense of feeling and mood. It seeps through within the loops, the repetitious, constant moving chord intertwined with almost-drowned piano keys in "92982.1". This is the beauty of the what makes these
"works of nature" memorable. They take you somewhere, wherever you want to go. A dream-like manifestation is within his work, which creates its own persona for the listener. Whether it be on your bed - lying in a cool summer night waiting for your eyes to grow heavy or an aggressive storm waiting to engulf your city with every breath it takes. Basinski's latest work places him into a familiar category, an ambient loop with imaginative atmosphere, allowing the listener to dictate what they can mean. Its exceptionally light in duration compared to the mammoth
The Disintegration Loops I-IV, but this doesn't take away from that previous construction.
Expressively moving at a snail's pace, "92982.2" continuously moves with a similar pattern - a jaded strike that sounds shattered and weak moves forward within the faded noises of rushing ambulances, airplanes overhead, phones ringing, and thunderstorms battering with the clap of lightning - a day in the life of a New Yorker one could say. Always moving, never stopping. Would this signal a typical night for Basinski 25 years ago? Outside his window in his apartment? Is this what
92982 is, a story?
The Disintegration Loops I-IV are a gigantic work in terms of length and understanding, but
92982 is an easier mark. It feels almost normal, innate with the listener on what is truly happening, putting it simply it is one of his more accessible works as an ambient artist. This flurry of driven disorder within
92982 isn't crunched or topped on each other like his previous looping works (wherein they move into layers to create an almost profound and intense experience), but its extended into the space it is suited for. A chain of events within that night for Basinski, with the tape to prove it existed. Its conceptual structure is extremely noticeable on first listens and while
92982 is strikingly easy to understand, it moves deeper within the mind with every listen.
