Pulse Emitter - Swirlings Vinyl LP 2020

1. Electron Central
2. Fairy Tree
3. Space Frost
4. Ripples
5. Cloud Refuge
6. Empty Hold

Portland-based composer Daryl Groetsch's output under the name Pulse Emitter forms a catalog of nearly one hundred physical releases since the early '00s. Swirlings represents a culmination of diverse modes of creation that Pulse Emitter has developed over the course of his recent releases. As on 2018's Xenharmonic Passages, Groetsch moves beyond traditional tonalities and western scales to incorporate elements of microtonality into his percolating black hole soundscapes. As on his fve volume series called Meditative Music, he hones in on 6 to 7-minute drifting pieces that balance a sense of delicate stasis with great depth of detail and movement. The lead lines present on Swirlings continue Pulse Emitter's fascination with emulated instrumental tones characteristic of '80s synth composition, as more chintzy or brittle voices collide with patches of ultra high-fdelity synthetic pointillism. Far from the realm of plug-andpress-play ambient computer music, his hands-on input on his system of machines can compress time into pockets of acute structural turbulence, or lock into streams of slow equilibrium where one can trace his live manipulation of single voices or textural parameters. With Swirlings, Pulse Emitter taps into the benevolence and natural curiosity at the heart of his practice. After decades guiding us down a network of distinct paths through the cosmos, Groetsch has become the wise traveler that we turn to transfx and entertain us, to kindle a spark of warmth in the cold void of space. Black Vinyl.