The Other

The Other
Label: Max Ernst
Length: EP
Rated: NONE
Media: CD
Format: Album
WorkNameSort: Other, The

Coinciding with her same-month release, Size and Tears, The Other marks a year of considerable productivity for visual artist/composer Natalie Beridze, known also as Tusia Beridze, or simply TBA. In her home city of Tbilisi, Georgia, Beridze is preoccupied with crafting textured electronic music to the point where every increment is double-tracked, panned quickly back and forth, or simply rife with reverb. The Other mixes icy, techno-flavored instrumentals with dense, synth-washed ambience, while the vocal backdrops almost disappear in the wake of Beridze’s whispered delivery. “After Me in Soft Poles” belongs in the tranquil, Ulrich Schnauss–esque portion, while “Hero”’s introductory surges are bleary, giving way to a barrage of different sounds, some of which surface and probably never reappear. Beridze casually offers a frail, partly-spoken vocal on “X. It Snow,” and the results encapsulate everything this record stands for: chilling listening that warms only when it gets too cold to bear.

This article appears in Nov 21-27, 2007.