Onewayness // Random Oracle

onewayness

Random Oracle

onomastic records

4 Stars

The latest formal work from Erie musician Adam Holquist offers rich audio textures through a combination of traditional and synthesized instrumentation, field recordings, and audio clips. Playing out over the course of nearly an hour, the record is broken up into four tracks. The first, aptly titled "Enter Here" is a warm welcome. An album unto itself, the 23-minute opening begins with a throbbing, slightly fuzzy bass rhythm that permeates the atmosphere, intermingling with the organic sound of bird whistles and chimes of far-off bells. It's beautifully meditative. Next is "Valley Town," a haunting repurposing of a narration originating in the 1940 documentary film of the same name, illustrating the declining steel industry in New Castle, Pennsylvania and drawing a remarkably pertinent parallel to the modern "Rust Belt" phenomenon, building to a danceable synth section midway through — is hope implied? "Nanocosm / Part in Peace" is a return to the soft undulations of the opening track, fit for Carl Sagan. "Nocturne for Richard" is an ode to the late electronic musician Richard Lainhart, an emotionally evocative use of the artist's field recordings. — Nick Warren