Frozen Niagara Falls is a landmark in Dominick Fernow’s long career with all its devastating sadness, pain, horror, and beauty – Dominick Fernow is alive.
Within his massive discography, littered with limited-release tapes that can be frustrating to any would-be collector, are his “statement” records, which often introduce new elements that advance his artistic growth. Among these are 2006’s Pleasure Ground, where his talents for rhythm really started to bloom, 2011’s Bermuda Drain, his blackened new wave masterpiece, and 2013’s Through The Window, where he nearly ditched noise for unknown-hours techno. Frozen Niagara Falls, Fernow’s latest double album, is definitely one of his “statement records,” and it brings back much of the harsh noise that faded away from his more recent works, but it’s neither a “return to form” nor a retreat into his early career. With Niagara, he’s taken strengths from his entire oeuvre to reach deeper into himself and produce what may be his best record yet, one that brings all the fulfillment of noise and transcends them all the same.
Frozen Niagara Falls, Fernow’s most recent twofold collection, is unquestionably one of his “announcement records,” and it brings back a great part of the brutal commotion that blurred far from his later works, however it’s neither an “arrival to shape” nor a retreat into his initial vocation. With Niagara, he’s taken qualities from his whole oeuvre to reach more profound into himself and produce what may be his best record yet, one that brings all the satisfaction of clamor and rises above every one of them the same.
Melancholy and concoction reliance wreak devastation on the scene of individuals’ lives, similar to individual normal fiascos. Now and again, Fernow places you in the eye of the tempest, as with the stifled ‘Cocaine Daughter’, which indicates looming decimation immediately conveyed by ‘Falling Mask’ where foaming shouts of “TO BE HUNGRY/TO BE ON COCAINE” make for one of his most muddling, and irritating, conveyances. The centerpiece, ‘Greenpoint’, which adjusts a trio of 10-moment legends securing the 13 different tracks, soundtracks a stroll through the destruction of a companion’s past with mumbles about liquor abuse, awakening in Beth Israel, and the East River being the place “the suicides go”.