Noah Lyas – Reflections LP

Noah Lyas – Reflections LP

(Secuencias Temporales, 2021-04-26)

A long-debated topic in any creative field aims to question whether an audience should separate art from the artist. Much less talked about, however, is when artists purposely separate themselves from art, thinking for instance of the alias “Unknown”, which has yet more than 3000 occurrences in Discogs. Noah Lyas – a play on words for “no alias” – also made the choice to address the ambiguity of identity, in a very creative way.

“Reflections LP” is not a common album. With the tracks having the same title and similar vibes, it seems more like six different versions of the same piece. It’s however various enough to create interest and it matches the topic: the “reflection” and its various layers. Noah Lyas obviously explores deep within, catalysed by primal drums, organic rhythms and deep frequencies, stepping into an equally thought-provoking concept that the alias suggests.

Through the immersive tracks, the listeners can find a range of elements that pull from satellite sub-genres of hypnotic and deep techno. A strong homage to dub can be found throughout all of the tracks, especially “Reflections I”, “II”, and “IV”. Though in each track, the focus on natural elements is stressed in different ways. For instance, shakers in “Reflections I” assume the role to hold the drums close together, acting as an unsuspecting guide.

In later tracks (most notably “Reflections VI”), synthetic pulses, mostly viewed as a deep or hypnotic techno resource, provide a less organic, alternative sound to immerse in. Still slow and methodical, and with dub influence, the merging of sounds is true to Noah Lyas’ artistic approach.

In addition to “Reflections LP”, Noah Lyas also just made an intriguing interpretation of Eafhm’s “Distant Tierra” on Lett Records, another release worth checking.

_{WRITING BY: JEFF SPECTOR | 3 MAY 2021}