…it’s one of those records that drift in and out of your consciousness, providing a shimmering backdrop to your daily chores…
…it’s one of those records that drift in and out of your consciousness, providing a shimmering backdrop to your daily chores…
(Tonefloat)
A beautiful listen and one of those records you will put on over and over without having to really contextualise what’s driving the music, or over think why you like it. Microphonics XXI-XXV is a four piece set of minimal guitar tracks, a work where thickly textured, syrupy, sometimes gliding notes in a mid-range look to evoke certain moods, create a template where the listener can almost switch off. And as such it’s one of those records that drift in and out of your consciousness, providing a shimmering backdrop to your daily chores…
Stylistically, it’s very much in the tradition of meditational, slightly devotional pieces like Klaus Schultze’s Some Velvet Phasing, Harmonia’s Sehr Koschmische, (albeit a very stoned take on that), or something by Tim Hecker. The brilliance of this release is in the balancing of the harmonics: often playing subtle counterpoint to thick undulating guitar riffs or dense matted passages, sometimes evoking an overpowering sense of dryness and heat (such as in There’s a Light in Vein) and often changing direction ever so imperceptibly, prompting a new perspective on what initially seem to be monolithic slabs of texture and tone. This is really noticeable in the last (and title) track. The opening number Mounting Among The Waves and third track The Burden of Hope Across Thousands of Rivers take a slightly different approach: dragging themselves over an arid landscape in this incredibly sludgy, slothful manner, all the while building their vibe. It’s patient and suggestive stuff, but not too aloof to be affected by the suggestions of light, melancholy harmonics that waft in intermittently.
OK, that will do. Let’s not write too much. I suggest you should go and give this a listen.