Canadian band THE INFANT CYCLE was a prolific creator of electronic music for two whole decades, calling quits earlier this year following 20 years and about 50 releases all in all. “The Complete Infant Cycle” was one of their last production, this 5 track EP their contribution to US label Silber Records ongoing “5 in 5” conceptual series of EPs.

Sounds and effects rather than melodies as such is what we’re treated to here, rather unsurprisingly as The Infant Cycle is described to explore also the territories of musique concrete. Just about the only accessible piece here is the opening minute, a drone supporting a hammering, nervous texture with dronelike qualities. Following this we get disturbing clicks and what sounds like paper crumbled, with a subtle cosmic vibe attached, some sort of electronic dampened bell like sound with cosmic noise on top, with two additional electronic rhythm elements added in, a fluctuating drone supporting some kind of hammering sound, and at last a piece that opens and ends with a dramatic noise explosion, with subtle and barely audible noises in the 58 seconds between the explosions.

I suspect that this is an EP that first and foremost will have an appeal amongst those who have a deeper interest in drone based music and musique concrete. While mostly ambient in nature some of the sounds used here and the manner in which they are assembled does make these short electronic pieces rather challenging for the uninitiated. A well made EP of it’s kind, but in this case admittedly not quite my kind.

My rating: 64/100