V. Kristoff

V. Kristoff

Sydra

Not Not Fun

Elusive electronicist and co-captain of the Jungle Gym ambient assembly line Jared Carrigan has cycled through a gallery of aliases across the past half decade but his recent work as V. Kristoff ranks among the most refined and rapturous in his vast catalog. Sydra sequences 11 mesmeric explorations of texture and time dissolution into a shadowy aquamarine odyssey, recorded in California and Catalonia using an array of compact equipment; some tracks were crafted using only an iPhone and FX plug-ins while sleeping in cars along Costa Brava last spring.  Like the ancient water clocks alluded to in its title, these pieces capture V. Kristoff at his most liquid and systemic, percolating synthetics shaped into potent tools of mirage and reflection. But the passage of time is never neutral: serenity sinks toward dread as easy as glass frosted by breath. The album grows more opaque and ominous as it deepens, the minutes a shivering spiderweb traced in the dust of our unbecoming.