I received my hardcopy of this today. I splurged and ordered the limited-edition, which has a second disc entitled, Quaristice (Versions).
I expected the second disc to be a set of one-off remixes, but it turned out to be quite different. To put it bluntly, this is the record Quaristice should have been.
My primary complaint with the album was that the individual pieces were too short, and that it lacked a sense of overaching structure. That’s not the case here.
Eleven tracks from the album proper are represented, reworked and expanded. In almost every case, they benefit tremendously. While Quaristice felt like it had quite a bit of filler, this disc seems both more disciplined and better developed.
“Altichrye” rewrites the bland intro track into something more somber and mature, while “The Plc” is given twice its original time to stretch its legs and develop. The result is much more satisfying, a collision between Cichlisuite and Confield that works quite nicely.
“I O (Mons)” still shambles along, but gives the listener more time to get acquainted before sputtering out. Like its spiritual successor “Zeiss Contarex,” it needs time for the listener to acclimate. “Phylopn” seems virtually the same as its original version, but it segues well into “Perlence Range3,” which opens up in the middle with a 4/4 section to smooth out its off-kilter cadence. Again, the additional time works to its benefit, reminding me of “Parhelic Triangle” to some extent.
“SonDEremawe” is completely reworked into an odd march that works as a continuance of the previous track, and “Tankraken,” though it hasn’t changed much, feels much more in place in such context.
“Fol4” doesn’t add any new melodic elements, but its atmosphere is vastly improved by tripling its length, while “90101-61-01” switches its Acid hat for a more genial muted two-step. I’m not sure if I like it more than the original version, but it occurs that the two complement each other well.
“Chenc9-x” follows its original version closely for the first four minutes before reintroducing the odd calliope samples from “Perlence,” adding a nice sense of cohesion to the whole record. “Nofour” closes things out with a sparser, gentler take on “Notwo.”
As a record in its own right, (Variations) is quite good. It still doesn’t knock my breath out like Chiastic Slide or Confield, but I’m warming to it in a way I couldn’t with Quaristice. It certainly feels more like an Autechre record. Given some space and breathing room, most of the material takes on a favorable light.
In terms of style, it feels a bit like Untilted, but less abrasive and restless, less rushed. It’s no great leap forward, but then again, it raises the question I asked after first hearing Confield: where the heck do you go from here? Draft 7.30 and Untilted were two possible answers, pushing the limits generative approach and rhythm, but to get any more diffuse and abstract would seem to be self-defeating. I suppose they could churn out something completely incomprehensible and unlistenable, but what would be the point? We’ve got Pierre Boulez for that kind of thing.
So, we have this record, a conciliation of ideas as it were. They’ve still got some interesting tricks in their repertoire, but they’re more subtle about applying them. There doesn’t seem to be any burning need to innovate, or to prove anything. The result is still challenging, but it’s also quite engaging. It has a certain warmness and charm (!) in its approach that feels like relief.
(Still, I can’t help but think they got the discs mixed up in mastering: the bonus disc should have been the album proper, with the original release as a supplement. At least we have both sides of the coin now.)