Send "Prurient " Ringtones to your Cell 
| Pitchfork |
 "Time's arrow" is a lovely phrase to describe the seeming unidirectional progression of time, the sense that it's been traveling perpetually forward from the Big Bang to whatever the ending point of the universe will happen to be. It's also the cheeky title of Dominick Fernow's new Prurient EP, which itself rumbles inexorably and sometimes unbearably forward until it reaches a Big Crunch that sounds as apocalyptic as the one promised by some physicists. The five tracks here seem to be slowly shedding the trappings of music itself, all the dark-pop armature Fernow has grafted onto Prurient's old shriek-the-pain-away sound over the last few years, until all that remains is fearsome and formless noise.On Time's Arrow, the comforts of familiar rhythm and melody are stripped back, track by track, to reveal the snarling, primal sound mass from which they were beaten into shape. With a jittery programmed beat that recalls Big Black at their most despondent and yet more sour synth squiggles that prove John Carpenter is the biggest influence on the darker end of electronic music in the 21st-century, the title track takes off from the creepy-but-clearly-defined hooks of Prurient's brilliant Bermuda Drain album from earlier in 2011. It's a possible contender for jam-of-the-year for all the ex-goths, one-time industrial obsessives, and collectors of soundtracks from obscure 1980s horror movies. But the rest of the EP sounds like it was made by a lunatic from one of those obscure 80s horror movies, as if that deranged slasher had somehow escaped into real world and been asked to record a few tunes for a cassette label. And you can imagine the sort of emotions such a jolly fellow would want to express through sound....full text |
| Popmatters |
| Dominick Fernow has been releasing powerful, confrontational and hugely influential experimental electronica for well over a decade, but he drew a halt to his more overtly corrosive procedures with 2011’s Bermuda Drain. Gone was much of the noise-laden abrasiveness and belligerence of his past work, replaced instead by the subtle use of picturesque and melodic textures. Bermuda Drain was a shocking release, but for entirely different reasons than his previous work was. It was a courageous move—one that undoubtedly risked isolating Fernow from his audience—but one that was clearly essential to his progression as an artist. Time’s Arrow, the new EP from Prurient, continues in a similar transformative vein—at least it does initially. Further developing his newfound persona, Fernow strides even further into the realms of accessibility and lucidity on the first two tracks, before taking a paradoxical step backwards, settling into familiar, albeit less blatantly harsh, territory. The EP’s first two tracks, “Time’s Arrow” and “Time’s Arrow (Unsolved)”, both throb with a gorgeous vintage synth melody that could have easily been plucked from a John Carpenter soundtrack, over which is laid an eloquent, haunting narrative. Both tracks are unquestionably superb, highlighting Fernow’s confidence in infusing some icy tranquility into his work....full text |
| Pitchfork |
| The Time's Arrow EP, out now on Hydra Head, nips at the heels of Prurient's recent game-shifting full-length, Bermuda Drain. As with BD, the five-song collection's available in standard formats (CD, 12") as well as cassette, a nod to Dominick Fernow's years as a noise terrorist. Also like the LP, it leads us into calmer, though not necessarily gentler territories. For instance, focusing on murder victim Elizabeth Short ("the Black Dahlia"), the title track plays out like the shuffling Wax Trax-imprinted incidental music to a snuff film. The EP eventually explodes with the industrial noise freakout "Maskless Face" and the Black Vase/Whitehouse-esque instrumental "Slavery in the Bahamas", but these eerie, almost meditative seven minutes make the biggest impression....full text |
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