Displacer

SIDE LINE MAGAZINE
After having released his 3 first albums on the French M-Tronic label, Michael Morton aka Displacer now joined Tympanik Audio for a new chapter in his electronic experiments. What I especially like with Displacer is the fact this project avoids repeating itself. There’re of course no radical changes in sound, but some interesting and noticeable evolutions. With “The Witching Hour”, M. Morton probably released one of his most achieved releases to date. He still composes and creates some very unique electronic soundscapes, which he reinforced by samplings and great soundsculptures. The opening cuts “Low Moral Fiber” and “To Live, Love, Die… Or Kill!” he even adds some vague dub elements. The mix of these deep sounds and low rhythmic is simply irresistible and guarantees an overwhelming debut. The album progressively evolves towards more astral influences, like reinforcing the ambient side of Displacer. The “Warriors In Gods Army”-cut reveals such atmospheric ingredients while another piece like “Nightbeast” sounds maybe less atmospheric, but also reveals worthy sounds and bleeps. The 9th tracks brings us to the 2nd part of this release featuring remixes and collaborations. It starts with the excellent “Men Of Low Moral Fiber” reworked by Diff_Cult. This version is more bombastic while a mysterious sphere hangs over the song. Next comes a cool remix of “Nag Champa” by L’Ombre delivering some irresistible sound arrangements. The “Warriors In Dub’s Army” remixed by Larvae comes next and is a bit more into harder rhythms. Autoclav1.1 and ESA deliver the last remixes to this album. They for sure are the most famous names of the remix-list although not delivering the best tracks. Globally speaking “The Witching Hour” is a well-done opus and according to me the best one to date!
(DP:8)DP.

RUE MORGUE MAGAZINE
Composer Michael Morton’s fourth album integrates sound samples from old horror films with trippy electronica to create an end product that crackles, sometimes snarls, and often eases listeners into a trance-inducing calm. “Warriors in God’s Army” has some recognizable Tangerine Dream tonalities and sequenced rhythms (Legend, perhaps?), whereas in “Cage Fighters Lullaby,” the CD's lengthy closing track, Morton makes extensive use of an alternating march/hip-hop beat and fat bass slams, which he dusts with some grisly peripheral static, a light bluesy guitar riff and faint vocal tones. The album’s overall composition is more subdued, and the shared elliptical patterns and textures don’t really ever develop into striking concepts. Designed to ebb and flow, The Witching Hour’s trance nucleus probably makes this more attractive for ardent Displacer fans. But with samples from Pirhana (“The Witching Hour”), Sleepy Hollow (“Low Moral Fiber”), The Day the Earth Stood Still (“He Could Destroy The Earth”), Squirm and Nightbeast, Morton could turn on more than a few horror fans to his eerie brand of electronica.