If Surrounded By Silence were a movie, it'd be one of those Technicolor Cecil B. DeMille epics that boldface hype "A Cast of Thousands." If it were a concert, it would be an indie-verse Live Aid. If it were a story, it'd be that chapter of Ulysses where James Joyce introduces the reader to just about every goddamn person in Dublin. We're talking a big canvas here, with so many guest stars you can't spit without moistening someone who has spent time on the (CMJ) charts.
All of which is somewhat of a U-turn for Scott Herren's best-known pseudonym, as the Prefuse 73 catalog has been distinct among its IDM environs for being emotional, intimate, and focused affairs. Prefuse albums have had guests over for dinner before, but rarely so marquee (sorry, Prekop) and never in such numbers...hell, I'm hard pressed to think of any non-compilation that has featured so many interlopers. Whether Herren is using Surrounded By Silence to spread the word about some of his favorite acts, or to insta-build a portfolio of outside production work, or a little of both, it's a much different-- and far more inconsistent-- affair than previous Prefuse efforts.
Much of the blame for this unevenness lies with Herren's attempts at hip-hop production, a role with tantalizing potential that so far had only been teased at with isolated, underwhelming efforts for Diverse, MF Doom, and others. Silence's first taste of Prefuse on the decks, "Hideyaface", finds Herren brokering a backpacker's dream summit of Wu-Tang and Def Jux municipalities. Sadly, it's outperformed by the instrumental reprise that appears down the tracklist, containing a merely routine showing by Ghostface that nevertheless still manages to embarrass the cottonmouth delivery of El-P, who lamely titles himself "Laserface" and follows the Def Jux party line of substituting hyperlogia for talent. (See also: Aesop Rock's blunder through "Sabbatical with Options".)
Only charismatic tracks with Jux defector Beans ("Morale Crusher") and relative unknown Camu ("Now You're Leaving") manage to fulfill the concept's promise, leaving one to wonder whether Herren is the victim of phoned-in MC work (looking at you, Masta Killah and GZA) or whether his considerable talents just don't adapt to background duty. Indeed, the composition of tracks like "Just the Thought" seems neutered compared to usual Prefuse material, short on ideas and compromising complexity. Ironically, it might be Herren's knack for atmospherics and jazz-like swing that keep his hip-hop dalliances from liftoff, as they tend to amplify rather than alleviate the dreary bookishness of underground rap emcees.
Appearances by artists from the rock and electronic side of the indie fence score slightly better on Surrounded By Silence, ranging from the disastrously shrill performance by Blonde Redhead's Kazu Makino to the delicious laptop jam between Prefuse and ihe Books. That latter track, "Pagina Dos", is pretty much exactly what you would expect from its constituent parts, but no less entrancing for it; an all-too-brief mixture of fractured banjo, chop-chop dialogue, and an itchier, funkier beat than the Books would normally allow themselves.
"And I'm Gone" somehow manages to squeeze another Herren alias (Piano Ovelord), Stereolabbites Broadcast, and Mexican outfit Café Tacuba into a less-than-three-minutes package, but makes it work as dense, dreamy psychedelia Caribou/Manitoba would envy. The two appearances by Claudia Deheza from On! Air! Library! (one with twin sister Alejandra) similarly make me reach for the "ethereal" meme, breezy like Herren's Savath + Savalas project, but without sacrificing the trademark Prefuse lope-swing and scissorhands editing.
Almost lost amidst the collaboration addiction are a handful of Prefuse-only tracks, the placement of which makes even the longer compositions feel like interludes. That's a shame, because while Herren shows signs of recycling old ideas (the album-opening fanfare, the wandering bassline of "Ty versus Detchibe"), some of these solitary works outshine the superstar vehicles. "Expressing Views is Obviously Illegal" is the Prefuse concept at its best, with jazz, hip-hop, and IDM elements all colliding in a granola-bar musicology lecture. Similarly, "Minutes Away Without You," reprises the One Word Extinguisher trick for juicing sentiment out of loops and samples, a slow jam tempo complimented by late-night noir horns.
Yet, if I may be albumist for a moment, it's this emotional core that's lacking from Surrounded By Silence, which is so caught up in the red-carpet procession that it loses the flow and cohesion of Prefuse's prior efforts. Like John Wayne popping up as a Roman guard in the crucifixion scene of The Greatest Story Ever Told, any momentum achieved by the music gets tripped up by another celebrity appearance and the ensuing reach for the liner notes. Getting by with a lot of help from his friends is clearly Herren's goal on Surrounded By Silence, but that doesn't keep the fulfillment of that goal from making the album his least rewarding effort yet under this name.
