The music of BlankFor.ms, aka Tyler Gilmore, emphasises duality, at its core representing both the calm and chaos of everyday life. The Brooklyn-based ambient artist is known for his disruption and manipulation of degraded tape loops, taking a medium which is by definition repetitive and making it unpredictable, shadowing the beats with slow, shifting synths which are sometimes sinister, sometimes glorious.
Gilmore’s third solo album contains audible elements of his 2023 jazz-electronica album Refract, released in collaboration with pianist Jason Moran and drummer Marcus Gilmore. ‘Crail Family Post Office’ is where this is most apparent, with somewhat atonal and seemingly improvised bleeps dotted in rapid succession throughout. However, this record is its own singular venture, best listened to in its entirety.
It’s no surprise that Gilmore chose ‘Formed By the Slide’ and ‘A Fleet Of Celebrants’ to be the lead singles for After The Town Was Swept Away. Of the twelve tracks on the album, these two are the easiest on the eardrums, as palatable introductions to the record before listeners encounter its glitchier, more chaotic elements. The first of these singles is the only track on the record with vocals, with layers of Ella Joy Meir’s wordless cooing forming a counterpoint to a gentle piano over a glistening electronic droned bass. The latter is an uneasy soundscape which builds to a mystical climax, decorated beautifully with woodwind and evoking ceremonial undertones.
Make no mistake, though: this record isn’t all about pastoral vibes. ‘Never Left’, the first song on the album, would suit the soundtrack for an analogue horror videogame. Later on, the title track is genuinely horrifying, with a foreboding, dissonant intro and a sudden, jittery escalation halfway through. If this track represents the apocalypse, the following track ‘Colter’ successfully captures a sense of post-cataclysmic depletion, and ‘Ferried Across’ and ‘Kinship III’ – the best of the album’s three ‘Kinship’ songs – giving the listener the promise of hope with glowing, celestial chords.
At the risk of a lazy comparison, After The Town Was Swept Away summons Aphex Twin in more ways than one, in that it doesn’t aim merely to offer a consistently comfortable listening experience. It tells a deeply emotional story in between its softness and its static, carrying you with it through the flood.
