Double Leopards Out of One, Through One and To One

[Eclipse; 2005]

Rating: 3.5/5

Styles: drone, atmospheric noise
Others: Birchville Cat Motel, The Skaters


A Double Leopards show is a spiritually enlightening experience to behold. They reach the stage and bow their heads to the electronic equipment in front of them. They conduct the show from their knees, seemingly unable to remove themselves from the holy orders of their devices. One of the members tends to set the mood with a low volume electronic tone, and each member's subtle additions fit into one homogeneous sonic texture. In this way, they create a sonic wasteland of exotic sounds merged together in one drawn-out drone.

Their third LP for Eclipse, Out of One, Through One and To One, is almost as exciting as one of their live shows. It consists of two tracks that take up one LP side apiece. The mind-numbing, controlled chaos of each song is executed beautifully.

Side A starts out with a few birds chirping and a slowly budding electronic creep. As the creep gets louder, the bird sounds become increasingly distorted until they are swallowed up into the rising sun of the drone wave. From there, the tidal-wave drone gets louder, eventually giving way to echoing Gregorian Monk chants. The chants are put through vocal processing to make them sound almost like swarming bees.

Side B is a mere 12 minutes compared with Side A's 18. It is also less subtle and more evolving. Here the monk-chant vocals lead into a piano foray and what seems to be the processed sound of ringing church bells. It is overtaken by what sounds like an idling dump truck, fading out into the mist from whence it came.

Like nearly everything Double Leopards have produced, Out of One, Through One and To One is a heady trip trough the enchanted land of electronics. Hold on to yr mind!

1. Untitled
2. Untitled