As twentieth-century composer Arnold Schoenberg said: “Intelligibility in music seems to be impossible without repetition.” and on Resistive Music Vol 1, Misha Panfilov has taken that maxim and run with it.
Collaging a bouncy, gnarly synth with delayed piano lines, Panfilov takes Stratum fifteen minutes deep, bringing the listener through a trance-like state till the end, the repetitions as soothing as a mother's heartbeat in their reliability.
Pauluna sees an ambient synth trod along a path of tape hiss, partaking in a call and response with panned, icier counterparts. Closer Tune for Janno is a more piano-voiced track, and all the better for it. A looped piano plays a simple melody over and over, hammering home its proclamation of existence, as though the piano is saying nothing more than "I exist!", and perhaps that's the point.
Though excessive repetition in modern classical and experimental music is nothing new (Riley, Glass, Reich), Repetitive Music Vol.1 is a successful foray into the field, and a useful album if you're spiritually drifting and need to be reminded that you do indeed exist.
★★★½