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Cleared, "Drown"
This is my first exposure to this Chicago super-duo consisting of Steven Hess (Pan•American/Locrian) and Michael Vallera (COiN), but they have actually existed long enough to record a loosely related trilogy of albums that culminates in this one.  According to Immune, Drown is the "apex of a five-year exploration of image, space, and sound," so I guess it is as good a place to start as any.  I cannot say I have much to note about their image, but I am legitimately impressed with Cleared’s use of both space and sound, as they strongly resemble an improbable convergence of Sunn O))), Cocteau Twins, and Tortoise.  It does not always work entirely seamlessly, but it sure is great when it does.
The most immediately striking aspect of Drown for me is that Vallera and Hess seem more than happy to sound like a two-man band: there is certainly some layering happening, but not much happens that sounds like it could not be replicated live with the help of some looping pedals.  That decision unexpectedly turns out to be one of Cleared's primary strengths, as their stripped-down aesthetic is actually more unique that their actual content.  I do like the content too though, even if Steven and Michael err a bit on the side of being too sketch-like/improvisational-sounding for me at times.
They are at their best when they combine doom-y brooding and distortion-worship with trance-inducing percussion patterns, as they do in the roiling-death-drone-meets-tambourines epic "Remote Ocean Prayer," which is also nicely embellished by some stuttering and static-y electronics.  The duo triumph again with the nightmarish, grinding horror of "Tracing Mirror," enhanced beautifully by an understated techno throb.  If they had just stuck with heavy drones and alternately pummeling or hypnotic rhythms, Drown would have been a crushing monster of an album.  As it stands, however, Cleared opted for variety and innovation rather than making the more predictable album that I would have preferred.  I suppose that is noble, but it still makes the rest of the album a bit uneven.
Most of it is still quite good though.  "Warmth," for example, drops the rhythmic component of Cleared’s successful formula to leave only shuddering, densely heavy drone, though it is enlivened by cavernous ringing swells and something that sounds like a slow-motion, pitch-shifted maraca pattern.  "Mercury" follows a similar template, though it instead features some heavy kit drumming from Hess that is too slow to quite resolve into a satisfying rhythm.  Hess's drum parts are far more compelling in the bludgeoning opener "Flowers for Lead" and the tribal tom dirge of "Nights."
Unfortunately, however, both of those pieces are undermined by watery, chorus-heavy dreampop guitars.  While I am generally the last person on earth to take issue with anything dreampop-related, adding a melodic guitar component to the Cleared aesthetic crosses the invisible barrier separating abstract music from actual songs.  While there is not anything fundamentally wrong with pieces like "Drown" or "Nights," there is just not enough to sustain my attention: when they are going for atmosphere, Cleared are wonderful, but when they bring melodies into the picture, it just sounds like two guys jamming on a promising song-sketch that still needs vocals or something.
Maybe that feeling is totally subjective to me though, as I think my capacity to be bored to death by post-rock far exceeds that of many other music fans.  In any case, there are at least two or three unquestionably heavy and wonderful pieces here and I am a big fan of Hess's glacially slow drumming.  Cleared are definitely doing something right.  Is a couple of excellent songs enough reason to declare an album a success?  I am not sure.  That is certainly more than most albums have.  Regardless, Cleared seem like a promising band with more cool ideas than a fully-formed art-metal juggernaut at this point, but they definitely got my attention.
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