Daniel Avery - Ultra Truth

Daniel has become rather prolific. 3 albums released since the start of 2020; one in collaboration with Allesandro Cortini, which to many, became the unofficial soundtrack of the first covid lockdown.  

However, it feels like this album has been coming for a long time. In the buildup to its release, several singles and album tracks have been teased.  

The release features 3 differing bonus tracks, each specific to their physical format. 

The distorted humanoid portrait that forms the artwork was published on social media months ago, with pre-orders being taken months in advance.  

Arguably with a large fanfare from Phantasy Sound, they have been aware for a while that Daniel was creating something special.

And special it is. 

 

Layers and layers of sound. 

So much to explore.   

 

Opening with a soft piano refrain that repeats and then distorts and decays until it’s almost unrecognisable.  Next up comes the title track Ultra Truth. A mesmeric synth line repeats until supported by a kick drum and skittering percussion. Those drums/percussion sounds are integral to the sound of Ultra Truth. You can almost feel the time that has been spent adding more distortion/decay. This track builds and builds adding more layers of melody and the results are astounding: a hark back to Warp’s Artificial Intelligence series put through a post-Brexit acid bath, to remove the polish and make it more relevant for modern times.  

 

Next up, is Wall Of Sleep which is an exhilarating aural experience. Daniel’s friend Haai performs dreamy and indecipherable vocals atop a wall of noise, kick drums and percussion.  

 The Slow Bullet puts the breaks on a little; a minute of distorted ambience, which Daniel recently referenced on his Twitter Listening Party to take an age to perfect. The calm is quickly broken however once the proto drum and bass of Devotion kick in. The distortion is back and layers of it build here. This track reminds this listener a little of the incredible Kevin Shields remix of Primal Scream. Noise. Layers. Drums. This album isn’t chill-out material.  

 

By the time ‘Only’ and ‘Near Perfect’ kick in, we drop the tempo right back down to Mo Wax / Portishead territory. ‘Only the monsters love me.....’ sings Jonnine, nodding to Daniel’s goth influences such as NIN and Smashing Pumpkins.  

 

Collapsing Sky and Lone Swordsman lead the way on what is the most “contemplative” side of the record. Lone Swordsmen, first released in September 2020 and recorded the day after Andrew Weatherall’s death is the best thing Daniel has ever recorded. It’s not featured on any of his albums until this one. The emotion and beauty contained within that simple 4 minutes never fail to astonish and move. The track has found its natural home 

 

From reflection to hysteria; Chaos Energy and its build to those kick drums that threaten to shake my house to its foundations. Primal joy in a 5-minute package. Leading us out of the darkness is Heavy Rain. 

 

Daniel has not hidden his influences on this album; he’s talked about them often and created mixes of the myriad of different places he found inspiration for the different sounds he’s exploring. The way he has drawn from each yet crafted something that sounds so him, and so relevant right now illustrates what he has achieved. 

A truly phenomenal piece of work and one that works best when enjoyed as a full album. 

The production techniques utilised have led to me revisiting other pieces of distorted beauty this week; William Basinski's 'Disintegration Loops' and, particularly after the weekend tragic news around Mimi Parker, Low's 'Double Negative' and 'Hey What' albums.