REVIEWS OF "AGENESIS" ALBUM VERSION

"imposing sub bass pressure displaces Curgenven's more academic-seeming longform sonic explorations into spaces more attuned to club deconstructions, while also gesturing at his early twin loves of grindcore and 20th century orchestral works … the early tracks pair throbbing sub bass with discordant drones, while later field recordings flow over and under the bass and discords, only to be replaced with snarling electronics, and all that sturm und drang is felt in its absence in track 6's organ drones. There's a wealth of detail across all tracks, and the gradual contrasts draw the listener's ear to different elements each time you listen." - Peter Hollo, Utility Fog, FBi Radio (AUS)

"flickering tones and disparate sounds create a presence, felt in the room" - Headphone Commute (USA)

"fans of this newslette will likely already know that I’m obsessed with the idea of the drone as a connective tissue between traditional music and contemporary experimentation, and between cultures across the globe... Few in Ireland exemplify this idea quite like Curgenven, so stick your headphones on and sink deep into these fat tectonic frequencies." - Eoin Murray, Anois os Ard - New Irish Music October 2024

"Wide-frequency, muscular drones and spatialized feedback, drawing on no-input mixing, pipe organs, and field-recordings, developed over the last decade of live performances" - A Closer Listen (USA/Canada)

"a sonic palimpsest - a layered architecture of sound that, in both concept and execution, invites listeners into its fragmented, incomplete whole... AGENESIS feels like a fractured mosaic, an album that doesn’t simply confront sound but interrogates space, absence, and memory. Curgenven ventures into disorientation with AGENESIS through a meticulously curated array of sounds and influences. The album’s composition feels akin to an abstract painting - one where each track’s title is stripped down to single letters, echoing the album’s very title, AGENESIS, suggesting an absence or a gradual coming-into-being. Tracks like _GENESIS and A_ENESIS serve as sonic sketches, evolving gradually with rattling sub-bass" - Vito Camarretta, ChainDLK (Italy)

"a hard album, whose dark-edged resonance generates chilling sound waves that reverberate in our bodies and surroundings."- Loop Magazine (Chile)

""Robert, a short note. I love your album. It's very different from the previous ones, more direct, abrupt, harsh, immediate, brutalist almost - but with a strong sense of form that keeps me going back to it. Kudos.
The word brutalist came to mind because the music has a kind of architectural quality. It's loud/strong, but it doesn't let loose, the shape/form is clear." - Lasse Marhaug, Norwegian underground & experimental musician & editor of Personal Best magazine

"...while at times it sounds like odd choices he makes, creating a slightly unhinged album, shooting all over the place, but also showing the many sides of this musician." Frans de Waard, Vital Weekly (NL)

"Expertly put together, precise as always, with extra grit and noise. Pure tones." - Declan Synnott, Substack & Sources of Uncertainty (Dublin Digital Radio)