ARTIST: Ativin
TITLE: Summing the Approach
LABEL: Secretly Canadian
GENRE: Indie
BITRATE: 190kbps avg
PLAYTIME: 0h 21m total
RELEASE DATE: 1999-05-04
RIP DATE: 2006-03-22
Track List
----------
1. Cy 5:38
2. Riding and Roaming 4:26
3. Summing the Approach 6:59
4. My Eyes of Yours 4:43
Release Notes:
http://www.southern.com/southern/band/ATIVI/
Some eight years since Slint's Spiderland forever altered the indie-rock
landscape, it's arguable that any valid derivations can still be fashioned from
its blueprints. To be sure, Ativin's members never denied Slint's influence on
their music. But over the course of an EP, a single and a full-length album,
Ativin moved well beyond the pummelling soft-to-loud transitions of Slint and
toward a highly distinctive blend of treated, interlocked guitar grooves, firm
rhythmic manuevers and electronically-enhanced atmospheres.
All of these elements are served at precisely the right temperature on Summing
The Approach, a posthumous four-song EP recorded by Steve Albini that serves as
a satisfying final chapter to the Ativin novella. Summing does not abandon the
calling cards of 1998's dreamy German Water.
But it does mark a return to Ativin's more awkward side, especially on "Cy,"
which moves through several distinct sections with little regard for the
listener's sense of balance. After an off-kilter intro, the band locks into a
great, dark groove. An abrupt stop fades into the submerged melody of "Riding
And Roaming," before another sudden change spins into a disorienting mix of Dan
Burton's "high" tones and Chris Carothers' vaguely menacing low-end assignment.
As it evolved, Ativin developed a certain psychedelic edge, indulged here with a
variety of tape effects. The humming noise barely audible underneath the title
track's minimalist riff foreshadows the next transition, while the guitar tones
on the beautiful "My Eyes Of Yours" ring like a wind chime in slow-motion. It
makes for grade-A thinking music, and proof that you don't have to reinvent the
Slintwheel to enjoy a ride on the post-everything express train.