Guys, you look stressed! Here are two releases of Modern Classical experimentalism to calm you down on command. Enjoy!
Oh, I hope it doesn't stress you to wait a couple of weeks, since the first of these two albums hasn't been released yet and comes out on January 20th on Icarus Records/Consouling Sounds:
Oh, I hope it doesn't stress you to wait a couple of weeks, since the first of these two albums hasn't been released yet and comes out on January 20th on Icarus Records/Consouling Sounds:
Let's skip the part of the promotinal text which tells us that these four "Sketches For Francis" were inspired by the works of Belgian visual artist Francis Vanhee, with the duo of Imre De Cauter on cello and Matthias Dewilde on Fender Rhodes trying to reinterpret his colours and textures in musical form! Instead I'd rather make up a vague story in four chapters, which is scored by their atmospheric improvisations.
You're on a quest to find that mysterious Matterhorn Well, yet the entry to the cave where legends locate it lies high up close to the mountain peak. The first part of the hike was long, but easy. You're now resting on the last pasture, before it gets serious. Clear reflections of the stars above you sprinkle from your eyes, as you take in the vastness of the world. The music is beauty and anticipation, uplifting yet foreboding. Texture is everything as it drones just in that zone of sounds and frequencies which makes you feel alive and inspired.
In the second movement anxiety sneaks in. Are you afraid of heights or is it just the ice cold wind hitting your face, which makes you feel insignificant and alone up here? You find the cave and the journey into the darkness begins.
"Sketch III" gets even more ominous, as strings, keys and effects hum and buzz in slowly moving circles through your head. Halfway through you step into a breathtaking glittering crystal cavern. You want to just take in its beauty, but you have that strange feeling you're not alone...
I'm not going to spoil the finale, as the last movement morphs into the closing credits with the most tangible and structured rhythmic and Classical ideas of the album. But I will tell you that it almost masterfully concludes an immensly satisfying sonic journey. Almost, because just when you expect closure, the last fade-out somehow leaves the story strangely unresolved - and I'm not sure that if it is the only thing which bothers be about this album - or if I feel the opposite. May take a while until I can answer that question.
I have no doubts however that "Sketches For francis" are peak improvisational Ambient art. The album can be pre-ordered digitally, on CD and vinyl.
You're on a quest to find that mysterious Matterhorn Well, yet the entry to the cave where legends locate it lies high up close to the mountain peak. The first part of the hike was long, but easy. You're now resting on the last pasture, before it gets serious. Clear reflections of the stars above you sprinkle from your eyes, as you take in the vastness of the world. The music is beauty and anticipation, uplifting yet foreboding. Texture is everything as it drones just in that zone of sounds and frequencies which makes you feel alive and inspired.
In the second movement anxiety sneaks in. Are you afraid of heights or is it just the ice cold wind hitting your face, which makes you feel insignificant and alone up here? You find the cave and the journey into the darkness begins.
"Sketch III" gets even more ominous, as strings, keys and effects hum and buzz in slowly moving circles through your head. Halfway through you step into a breathtaking glittering crystal cavern. You want to just take in its beauty, but you have that strange feeling you're not alone...
I'm not going to spoil the finale, as the last movement morphs into the closing credits with the most tangible and structured rhythmic and Classical ideas of the album. But I will tell you that it almost masterfully concludes an immensly satisfying sonic journey. Almost, because just when you expect closure, the last fade-out somehow leaves the story strangely unresolved - and I'm not sure that if it is the only thing which bothers be about this album - or if I feel the opposite. May take a while until I can answer that question.
I have no doubts however that "Sketches For francis" are peak improvisational Ambient art. The album can be pre-ordered digitally, on CD and vinyl.
KALI MALONE - Living Torch (CD) (2022)
[MY REVIEW ON VEIL OF SOUND.COM ]
[MY REVIEW ON VEIL OF SOUND.COM ]
Equally as immersive this album - which has already been released half a year ago by Portraits GRM - exudes a more clerical or at least spiritual feeling and isn't as much crafted in the moment, yet rather by minimal but very purposeful composition.
Where Matterhorn Well create a certain tension between Classical elements and modern sounds through the juxtaposition of instruments and effects, this tendency is much stronger in the music of Kali Malone. The US instrumentalist residing in Sweden uses a very pipe-organ-like synth as the droning base and enriches it electronic sounds from modular synthesizer and sine-wave generator, as well as the Boîte à Bourdons, which is a kind of electrical hurdy-gurdy inspired by the Shruti Box. On the organic side warmth, clarity and grandeur are added by bass clarinet and trombone.
The slow-building experience is divided into two parts and takes all the time it needs, but surely doesn't overstay its welcome with a total playing time of just 33 minutes and 33 seconds.
This immensly mind-clearing, inspirational merger of Neo-Classical and Ambient ideas speaks a language you might regognize from Anna von Hausswolff's "All Thoughts Fly", Ulver and Sunn O)))'s "Terrestrials" or even recent works by artists as different as Aftab Darvishi and Blood Incantation (their Klaus Schulze tribute album of course). And its accent and expression couldn't be more captivating.
Tranquil bliss and profound inner beauty.
Where Matterhorn Well create a certain tension between Classical elements and modern sounds through the juxtaposition of instruments and effects, this tendency is much stronger in the music of Kali Malone. The US instrumentalist residing in Sweden uses a very pipe-organ-like synth as the droning base and enriches it electronic sounds from modular synthesizer and sine-wave generator, as well as the Boîte à Bourdons, which is a kind of electrical hurdy-gurdy inspired by the Shruti Box. On the organic side warmth, clarity and grandeur are added by bass clarinet and trombone.
The slow-building experience is divided into two parts and takes all the time it needs, but surely doesn't overstay its welcome with a total playing time of just 33 minutes and 33 seconds.
This immensly mind-clearing, inspirational merger of Neo-Classical and Ambient ideas speaks a language you might regognize from Anna von Hausswolff's "All Thoughts Fly", Ulver and Sunn O)))'s "Terrestrials" or even recent works by artists as different as Aftab Darvishi and Blood Incantation (their Klaus Schulze tribute album of course). And its accent and expression couldn't be more captivating.
Tranquil bliss and profound inner beauty.
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