’Zero Is More Than Nothing’ was conceived by Ecstatic as a communal project to alleviate the looming depression triggered by events this year. In response to a request to make a tune in less than a week, his mates - and their mates - supplied a spectrum of haunting, restless, and heart-punching compositions that perhaps live up to the maxim that times of crisis precipitate vital art, resulting in a properly engrossing cross-section of emotional electronic music in the wide-reaching aesthetic that Ecstatic have made their own in recent years.
From Not Waving’s own cosmic synth thought bubbles to Lynch collaborator Dean Hurley’s ‘80s atmospheric builders, the Coil-esque chamber string arrangements of Maxwell Sterling and Ecstatic co-founder Sam Willis’ Primitive World, the compilation is mixed with seamless finesse in the style of a crafty story-telling, peaking the contrasts and mutual conclusions between myriad tales from the twilight zone.
Practically the whole label roster are involved, both offering material and roping pals into the fray, which explains the welcome appearances of Violeta Azevedo, Felisha Ledesma & Angelo Harmsworth, Functionário and Elle a.o., alongside regular aces such as Novo Line and Head Technician (Pye Corner Audio) up in it, with a murmurating energy swaying between introspective, astral-minded and by the end a more searing selection that gives way to ambient stasis in a knowing metaphor for our collective states of mind this year. -Boomkat