London's
Louis Carnell
has progressively drawn his
Visionist
project away from its beginnings in club music, using his intense, boundary-pushing albums as venues for deep personal examination. Both 2015's
Safe
and 2017's
Value
interpreted the producer's battles with anxiety and isolation, expressing what words can't describe through harsh, grinding rhythmic formations and bleak, disconcerting synth-scapes.
A Call to Arms
is no less challenging and cathartic than those works, but it marks a major shift in
Carnell
's working methods as well as his sound. Letting go of the chirpy, disembodied vocal samples of his past material, here he embraces the warmth and honesty of the naked human voice, singing lyrics for the first time on his records in addition to working with a few choice collaborators. Opener "By Design" drifts through periods of static and silence, with
Ben Romans-Hopcraft
contributing wayward clarinet, airy guitar, and delicate vocals. "Form" establishes more of a post-industrial art-pop sound, with caustic guitar played by
Wu-Lu
and a slow, snapping rhythm framing
's lyrics about hunger, uncertainty, and desire, given extra poignancy by
Lisa E. Harris
' unbound, operatic vocals. "The Fold" is a heartbreaking duet with
Circuit des Yeux
's
Haley Fohr
, with both artists lamenting broken hope as
Matthew Bourne
's steady piano playing grounds the song with a sense of clarity. "Winter Sun" is a disorienting swirl of queasy vaporwave textures, Gregorian chanting, and
Ben Vince
's shape-shifting saxophone, clearing for
's eloquent messages of hope and gratitude. While tracks such as these are the most open and transparent that
has ever been with his music, there's others that are difficult and defiant, yet compelling. Japanese noise pioneer
K.K. Null
adds squealing feedback to the beginning of "Allowed to Dream," which gradually smooths itself out and becomes quite peaceful and lovely by the end. The epic "Nearly God" begins with smoldering rhythmic distortion and thudding, cinderblock-heavy kick drums, which eventually drop out as the track's hallucinatory clock chimes and ghostly vocals take over. "Lie Digging" similarly approaches the gritty avant-techno of labels like
Opal Tapes
, with a crackling drum loop (courtesy of
black midi
Morgan Simpson
) pumping away under whirring, glitching machinery.
occupies a unique space in
's catalog, as it's a fractured, inconsistent record, yet it seems like he's baring more of his soul than ever, and it certainly marks a turning point in the direction he's taking his music. ~ Paul Simpson