------Janet
Robbins - Carrying the Bag of Hearts ....
STYLE
Lush electronic instrumentals
ranging from beat-driven structure to formless, moody ambience.
Janet Robbins presents here a powerful cinematic sound exploring
twinkling arpeggio cycles, brooding panoramic synths and evocative
rhythmic arrangements. The range of sounds on the album is
broad, programmed with deft sensitivity and full of feeling.
Where the beats are at their most solid, sweeping pads and
frequent rhythmic fragmentations soften and deepen the sound.
When percussion is absent and the music drifts in amorphous
space, compelling expectancy hangs on almost every tone. At
times dramatic and exotic, at others magical and intimate
- Janet Robbins masterfully makes good use of varying intensity,
special effects and thematic development to fill her compositions
with passion and colour.
MOOD
The
mood sprawls across a considerable spectrum - but always with
an underlying air of charmed mystery. From heaving shadows
to sparkling moonlight Carrying The Bag of Hearts Interpreting
the Birth of Stars Vol II fills the air with a sense of the
exotic - fairy tale atmospheres from beautiful places, vivid
dreams of light and darkness.
ARTWORK
Illustrated
by the artist herself - the front cover features a hand-drawn
image of surrealist peculiarity. Floating female figures
hang above a cracked landscape; a black panther with mouth
to the ground might equally be attended by smaller figures
or about to consume them. The reverse graphic is of a more
abstract nature - 3D blocks bursting forward against a bright
light - verdant with all shades of green. Track titles are
here along with website info. Inside is another female figure
- this time in simple outline with words and monochrome
textures filling the spaces.
OVERALL
This
is a three track EP with two pieces of around six minutes
each and the opener at almost thirteen. Sadly I don't possess
volume one of this series in progress - but if this volume
is anything to go by, something monumental is underway here.
A solo album from an artist that explores more deeply than
most - no self conscious effort to sound like someone else,
no simple playing with or combining easily found sounds -
Carrying the Bag ... is an amazingly well developed composition
musically, with a depth lacking in so much of today's output.
Janet desribes her music "a little bit lo-fi, sci-fi
... a music encounter with reverie, dissolution, noise and
symphony."
WHO
WILL LIKE THIS ALBUM
This
CD might well appeal to fans of Delerium, Amethystium and
other such exotic soundscapers as well as ambient fans that
like plenty of structure and musical progression. You really
should listen to this one of you like atmospheric flights
of fantasy.
MORPHEUS
MUSIC REVIEWS
------William
Fields - Timbre
STYLE
Glitchy synthetic soundscaping
giving the impression of crafted arbitrary sound. Timbre is
carried along on peculiar rhythms sounding like braids of
randomness, desultory waves, oceanic swells of tone. Soft
harmonic pads undulate among bright sound effects, blips and
flickers, crackles and disturbances. Field mangles and twists
notes and noise into patterns that range from restful and
sleepy to pieces that appear only incidentally musical. There
are passages of low volume with fluctuations on the edge of
hearing, muted drones and subtle harmonies, then there are
deep basses anchoring some tracks in tuneful, attractive,
lulling sonance. Little on this CD seems to have escaped heavy
processing - Fields snipping, echoing, eroding, degenerating
original sound sources into a distinctive sonic fabric all
his own.
MOOD
The
mood is predominantly one of warm cerebral serenity, although
rhythmic at times, still quite floatational, drifting and
weightless. There are haunting moments, ethereal and hypnotic
where ghostly themes hang among static turbulence. A wistfulness
waxes and wanes in pace with the rise and fall of the more
melodic aspects - harmony lonely and light among atonal scatterings
and interference. Timbre has also a very contemporary feel
giving a sense of technological ephemera diverted unto the
purpose of artistic abstraction.
ARTWORK
Heavily
textured wood, pitted, cracked and skeletal fills most panels
- graphic enhancements filling the shadows and creeping in
multiple overlays. Text is kept to a minimum, apart from the
tracklist the rear cover carries only simple credits and contact
details. The inside of the front cover is wordless - imagery
filling the eye.
OVERALL
Introspective, ambient and crystalline, William Fields has
produced a unique sound that transcends its digital origins
- emotive and compelling. Ten tracks in all, with intriguing
titles - 'fwoado', 'seaglass', 'hivernal'. Fields is no new-comer
to this field, having a string of releases under his belt.
He has been writing music and experimenting with sound since
1993, his work covering a wide range stylistically, but always
warm and melodic. Timbre comes to us via Gears Of Sand a non-profit
independent electronic / electro-acoustic label based just
outside of Philadelphia.
WHO
WILL LIKE THIS ALBUM
Timbre
will appeal to ambient fans that enjoy plenty of movement
in their music and a somewhat spectral melancholy tone. If
you enjoed Mikronesia form GOS - this CD might well suit you.
Not worlds away from the more ambient end of the output from
Virtual's Elve or Ishvara.
MORPHEUS
MUSIC REVIEWS
------Catherine
Duc - Visions and Dreams
STYLE
Warm electronic instrumentals
laced with world sounds and an ethereal new age aesthetic.
Visions and Dreams carries generous amounts of flutes, wordless
voices and smooth strings that soften and enhance the basic
musical arrangements. Enigmatic beats and basses throb at
a comfortable mid to downtempo pace. Harps, pianos, ethnic
percussives and global samples work together as colourful
threads in Catherine Duc's listener friendly sonic tapestries.
For the most part a lead keyboard voice carries the main melody
-
MOOD
Exotic
fantasy compositions that draw on elements of Celtic, global
mood music and melodic ambient. Visions and Dreams is an easy
listening CD of relaxed flights of fancy, comprised mainly
of gentle summery harmonies and tender glowing themes. Pan
pipe voices and acoustic guitar patterns lift electronic pads
and strings into dreamy reverie.
ARTWORK
A
deep orange sunset is montaged against a folded drapery for
the front cover - golden text hanging in 3D relief. On the
reverse - the shiny red drapery alone forms a ground upon
which titles and credits are laid. The reverse of the single
sheet cover page presents simply the folds of red cloth once
more - lush and vivid.
OVERALL
Australian
musician Catherine Duc has been releasing her own music for
some time - appearing on mp3.com some years ago. Her sound
"melds ancient Celtic melodies with contemporary electronica
rhythms, creating a unique and exciting hybrid on Visions
and Dreams". Originally classically trained Catherine
Duc developed an interest in electronic music and so her sound
bridges the ancient with the up to date on Visions and Dreams.
Track titles 'Midsummer Twilight', 'Incense', 'One Autumn
Day' hint at the intent of the album.
WHO
WILL LIKE THIS ALBUM
I
suspect Catherine Duc will appeal mainly to new age fans or
those enjoying the gentler side of Amethystium or Ryan Farish.
MORPHEUS
MUSIC REVIEWS
------Bob
Holroyd - Hollow Man
MUSIC
Mostly instrumental electronica
and guitar arrangements with moody sounscaping and downtempo/trip
hop beats. Opening with delicate guitar harmonics, soft drones
and an unobtrusive beat 'Will You' is the album's only vocal
piece with a sweet jazzy female voice broken by trumpet lines.
From there the sound explores gritty beats, sub-bass rumble
and urban visions through to almost floatational harmony and
gentle light. The album has an unhurried, languid cool about
it, at times comfortably inhabiting that twilight territory
that so many struggle to work with (you get the feeling that
Bob is capable of mustering up some deep brooding darkness
and ambient dissonance when he chooses to) as a result, the
passages of beauty on the album are all the more attractive
set against hints of such crawling uneasiness. There are some
restful tracks of delightful melody, soaring vocalising and
hints of ethnic sampling - sensitively employed so as to avoid
the cliches of world music flavouring The CD progressively
changes character throughout, becoming increasingly tranquil
and sleepy toward the end.
ARTWORK
Front
cover artwork is laid out simply, directly - a solarised photograph
in shades of grey overlaid with rainbow swirls resembling
liquid marbling effects. Titles here are also grey - uncomplicated.
The reverse carries a tracklist, contact information and another
rainbow/grey graphic.
OVERALL
This is Bob Holroyd's fifth CD to date (a series of twelve
inches appearing before these) and it retains most of the
character of previous material whilst featuring less of
the global elements of recent recordings. Nevertheless some
lush flutes and Middle-Eastern pipes thicken the atmosphere
still in places. For the most part compositions are unhurried,
given space to unfold with gradual introductions and lazy
progressions. The music here has more of a 'live' or perhaps
'hands on' feel than most material in the genre, at times
approaching the format of a traditional performing outfit
- strummed guitar, drums, bass, piano. Other tracks, however,
sound quite unconventional and individual, utilising some
inventive programming techniques. There is no doubt from
the opening that this is a solid album from an obvious professional.
I understand that Hollow Man also includes a bonus CD -
"an epic 23 minute ambient journey called 'All Colours'
".
MORPHEUS
MUSIC REVIEWS
------Mask
- Heavy Petal
STYLE
Deep ambient sound zones and
electronic songs centred around the orchestral string manipulations
of Marvin Ayres and the inventive vocalisations of Sonja Kristina.
Mask meander through a series of strongly atmospheric compositions
ranging from floating beatless clouds of shifting sonic haze,
through rhythmic electronica, effected and trance inducing
to ethereal singing, digital beats and guitar accompaniment.
Sinewy violin strains cut through cinematic environments brimming
with colour, haunted by Sonja's wordless vocal tones - rich
and sonorous. Gentle electro-grooves propel warm harmonies
and dreamy words thick with emotion. Subtle piano, overtone
singing and imaginative sampling extend the range of sounds
employed - yet Mask maintain a delicate, heavenly unity throughout
the whole CD.
MOOD
Blissful
reverie and the drifting of aural vapours - Heavy Petal is
full of diffuse light and slowly swirling colour. Whether
presenting beat-driven downtempo featuring Kristina's clear
voice or exploring semi-improvised instrumental brain installations,
Mask have an enchanting other-worldliness about them. Angelic
utterances, grasshopper strings, viscous synthetic layers
- everything works together in a dignified vision of tenebrous/luminous
grace.
ARTWORK
Mask
have chosen a visual approach that captures their sound well
- against an unfathomable blackness rings of colour are overlaid,
heavy with texture - orange, pink - blues, greens, yellows.
Tinted portraits of the artists reside in the centre - flushes
of various hue and a secondary title sharing the space. Other
panels of this glossy digipack are of psychedelic brightness
- like a lightshow snatched form the air and forced into two
dimensions. In addition to the usual tracklisting, credits,
thanks and contact information there are excerpts from a journal
of two fictitious characters crated during the project - Jack
and Virginia ... the subtitle to Heavy Petal being 'The Tenebrous
Odyssey of Jack and Virginia'.
OVERALL
Heavy
Petal is an unusual album, bringing together diverse influences:
Sonja Kristina having sung for some years as far back as Curved
Air bringing folk origins and a gypsy aesthetic along with
her experience in the fields of sound healing and overtone
chanting; Marvin Ayres contributing his able violin and cello
skills along with ambient, cinematic sensibilities that expose
classical, jazz and experimental leanings. Mask will deliver
sounds that you haven't heard before and then will flex into
a different form, suddenly familiar and warming. The disc
is double format - CD on one side, then DVD on the flip side
- three video presentations of suitably abstract imagery to
the tracks Free, Lambent Spire and Healing Senses.
WHO
WILL LIKE THIS ALBUM
Mask
will delight fans of ethereal electronica that enjoy plenty
of ambient wandering. This album will likely be enjoyed by
those drawn to soundtrack CDs - the range of instrumental
and vocal pieces is not dissimilar to that found on many film
releases.
MORPHEUS
MUSIC REVIEWS
------Perpetual
Loop - Universal Flow
STYLE
Downtempo ethno-electronica brimming
with dusky tribal atmospheres. Perpetual Loop presents a somewhat
more moody global ambient trip than usual - brooding arrangements
with broad spatial expanses swept through with smooth synths,
reverberating effects and voices. World samples and deep lumbering
basses provide a somewhat primal air where didgeridoos, chants
pianos and various voices interplay. Even where no organic
global elements thicken the sound, Perpetual Loop still manages
to deliver a dense sonic chiaroscuro - shadows and passion
hanging in the pregnant air.
MOOD
Universal
Flow establishes a mesmerising gloom where shifting shadows
and fluttering lights alternately hold the attention. An emotive
twilight of gutsy electronic exotica. Sinuous and sensuous,
the music nods and flows with hypnotic rhythm without becoming
repetitious. One minute dancing on the digital cutting edge
then luxuriating in a nomadic timelessness.
ARTWORK
Placed
between a golden fractal sky and an icy vaporous foreground
a shady figure hold centre stage staring forward through the
elements. Only basic titles disturbing the cover image. Beyond
this you'll have to find out for yourself as I have only an
advance copy with minimal artwork.
OVERALL
Perpetual
Loop is Charles Massey from Manchester UK. Although he's
released a number of tracks on compilation albums, Universal
Flow is his first complete album. Charles has a classical
background, trained on both the cello and piano, as a result
"he combines the smoothness of that genre with the
harder edge of electronic music, creating his own organic
style, embracing computer technology to create Balearic
sounds, Tribal beats and Symphonic arrangements". This
CD is released through Organic Record and has the Organic
signature sound through and through. Personally I think
this album is a cut above the standard ethno-chill fare
and well worth a listen.
WHO
WILL LIKE THIS ALBUM
I
suspect Perpetual Loop will appeal to chill fans on the darker
side of the genre, if you enjoyed Phutureprimitive, then this
might well be one for you.
