Double Leopards

‘A Hole is True’

Genre: Ambient Noise

Sounds Like: the portal to another world

Rating: 85 Decibels

One can be a musician and a magician. To create magical music, one needs to contemplate the power of the instrument at hand. Instruments have multiple functions in the world of sound. They can be played properly, thereby making your band sound like thousands of others before you. Instruments can also be explored in unconventional ways, yielding thrilling new worlds of sound.

For the past seven years, Double Leopards has manipulated guitars, used amplifiers and contact microphones as instruments and employed the use of a French horn and various pedals to create an intoxicating array of ambient sound. ‘A Hole is True’ is proof that the Leopards can challenge and invigorate simultaneously.

After a slew of limited-edition cassettes and LPs, ‘A Hole is True’ sounds like the proper follow-up to the band’s 2003 classic ‘Urban Concussion.’ It has a cohesive and logical track sequence, and each of the three tracks are among the best the Leopards have done.

At the peak of their powers, the band seems like one beast. The pieces contain a multitude of single sounds merging into one layered drone. A tone is set, and each member explores that medium of sound with their given instrument by creating an exotic drone. The band deviates from this drone at a natural progression. One would be hard pressed to find a good Double Leopards piece that suddenly absolves into harsh noise without a logical build-up to the apex.

‘A Hole is True’ begins with the sound of feedback and wind on ‘Inmost Light.’ It quickly dissolves into a machine gun-like industrial percussion that is accentuated by throaty growls and airy, reverb-drenched electronic noise. It implodes into an electronic imitation of nightfall on a swamp near the railroad.

The highlight of the album is the 21-minute ‘White Cadillacs,’ a warped soundtrack to a religious ritual in a sewer hole. This orgy of sound finds the Leopards making do with fuzzy feedback, echoing trash can clangs and ethereal mantras. The result is a sparse, dreamy jam that overtakes a room and keeps the listener enthralled with its uneasiness.

Double Leopards creates the type of music that mystifies the unsuspecting listener because what the band does is unexplainable and magic. ‘A Hole is True’ can make the world around you disappear.

Published on November 6, 2005 at 12:00 pm