CoH - Radiant Faults

Ivan Pavlov, aka CoH, describes Radiant Faults not as a collection of compositions, but as “the recording of a dialogue.” Created during a long, late-night session with the rare Silhouette Eins synthesizer, the album emerged as a continuous stream of textures, patterns, and subliminal melodies. As the session unfolded, Pavlov sensed something uncanny: “It was as if something was speaking to me through the gear. No matter how deliberate I was, the results felt like responses. This instantly reminded me of ELpH.”

ELpH—Coil’s term for a “celestial entity” that interferes with electronic equipment to shape sound in unexpected ways—was born during the group’s 1994 studio experiments, where software malfunctions took on an eerie intelligence. As a close Coil collaborator, Pavlov is deeply attuned to this mythos, making Radiant Faults a compelling new entry in the ELpH canon—an exploration of sonic accidents as messages, and the divine potential of error.

The Silhouette Eins itself is a singular instrument, fusing the 1920s concept of an “optical soundtrack” with a hardware synth interface built around Pure Data: a visual programming environment for real-time, video-based sound synthesis. Pavlov’s manipulations produced not just sound, but transmissions—alien, indecipherable, and charged with presence.

Across the album, stark waveforms drone and warp over skeletal rhythms; flickering pulses echo through empty corridors; fluorescent tones glitch and shimmer in a weightless void. The atmosphere is one of generative whispers and ghost signals—an uncanny, post-human soundscape rippling with hidden intelligence.

Ultimately, Radiant Faults is less about control than surrender. “What we perceive as an error or mistake could very well be a message,” Pavlov reflects. “And while we may not decipher it, sometimes—from a crack in the surface or a tear in the fabric—a light unexpectedly seeps through.”