Ophibre, Shattered CD

reviewed by dave heaton

I had this Ophibre CD around for a long time before I listened to it; even as an object it intrigued me. It's just a CDR in a normal clear-plastic bag, but along with it is a smaller ziplock bag containing one shard of plastic, or whatever it is that compact discs are made of. The name of the CD: Shattered CD. It's one, lengthy track, which starts with Ophibre, aka Benjamin Rossignol, playing feedback noise like it's a free-jazz trumpet. Later on the noise gets more hesitant, and then there's a point where it rushes in suddenly and loudly, scaring the hell out of me each time. It then becomes constant for a while. In some ways this is an exercise in the ways the same sound can lurk like wallpaper or stab you in the ear. The piece at first seems to wind up in a fairly soothing manner, but then there's an extended near-silence (with crackles and buzzing if you listen close) which generates a mood of suspense, keeping me on edge for an explosion. Eventually it does come, but totally different from before. This time it's wormy, somewhere between an '80s hair band guitar solo and an on-the-loose buzzsaw. And it mutates from there as well. Is this the essence of a CD taking on new forms after its has been destroyed? Rossignol leaves us to decide the relationship between the object, the shard, of the title and the sounds crying their way out of our speakers.

{www.ophibre.com}