by David Wilikofsky
Giant Claw is the recording project of Keith Rankin. Rankin may be better known as a co-founder of Orange Milk Records or as a visual artist (he’s largely been responsible for the distinctive aesthetic of the label) but his music as Giant Claw is equally deserving of your time. It’s a project has always struck me as deeply interested in sound and texture, as much sonic sculpture as music. But whether Rankin was chopping up and reconstructing pop vocals or creating mini-MIDI symphonies, it has also felt in dialogue with pop structures. Mirror Guide, the fourth Giant Claw album, feels like both a natural step forward and new direction for the project; while it still showcases Rankin’s distinctive compositional ideas, the end result is more classical concerto than pop music.
From the outset, Mirror Guide is rarely content to sit still. Opener “Earther” is built around a stuttering pizzicato melody played on virtual cello, paired with a palette of electronic squelches, piano, and woodwinds. It’s a perfect encapsulation of the ideas Rankin explores throughout the album. Each track of Mirror Guide is densely layered, packed to the brim with different sounds; “Mirror Guide Part II” is a perfect example, including everything from choral passages and chaotic noise to gentle washes of ambience. These compositions are more about sonic textures and the interplay between them than any specific hook or melody. The lead cello provides the foundation for Rankin’s flights of fancy; the melody from “Earther” reappears and mutates across the album, whether it’s rubbing up against shards of harsh noise on “Discworld” or gentle pops of sound on “Mirror Guide Part I”. In this ever shifting landscape, it’s the constant that ties everything together.
To be honest, a lot of electronic music leaves me feeling a bit cold. It’s a genre that, to my ears, more often than not sounds sterile and lifeless. Mirror Guide is worlds away from that. The brief sigh at the beginning of “Mir-Cam Startup” is subtly echoed throughout the track, making it feel like its pulsing and breathing. The complex pizzicato rhythms of “Mir-Cam Online” move and sway organically. The vocals throughout are contributions from guest vocalists rather than chopped up samples, adding another humanistic touch. It all adds up to a piece of music that positively hums with life, and in my opinion this is the true accomplishment of the album. Rankin’s music has always felt hyperreal, but Mirror Guide is his first album that breathes life into the machine.