When I first saw the name of Émile Zener’s latest for Critique of Everyday Life, I immediately envisioned futuristic underwater landscapes and bioluminescent sea life. Reading more about the inspiration behind the album, it makes even more sense. Using an array of electronics, field recordings, and other sound sources, Zener explores the ‘psychogeographical map of the industrial maritime city.’ Chants and metallic stomps crash against whirring drones and rising static while stark caverns echo into nothingness. Dripping water hollows out abandoned factories while the lost ghosts of long-dead workers resonate through synthetic channels underneath. Even the voices on Laguna Cibernetica are fraught, hurried. There is no solace to be found here. Everything must keep moving before any realizes this dark, caustic mode is a scam. This is some of Zener’s best work.
