2010 June at Reviews

Jun 26

Bow Echoes is a sublime collection of droning guitar and ambient minimalism from Canadian musician Damian Valles. Released through the excellent Resting Bell netlabel back in March, I was made aware of it yesterday when the track Ground Truth played on StillStream. The guitar textures really made the piece stand out, prompting me to immediately download the full release.

Regardless of how many musical styles an artist may work in, any single ambient release requires a certain amount of tonal and compositional consistency in order to hold up to repeated listens. Of course this is a matter of taste, but from my own listening experience, ambient works are invariably concept-oriented. Accordingly, each project requires the expression and exploration of melodic and/or textural themes and an approach to sound design that is consistent across each of the pieces that comprise a release. In this respect, Bow Echoes is a tremendous achievement – the individual songs are remarkable in their pacing and composition, while the release as a whole exists completely within a sonic space that is utterly alluring. There’s an attention to detail here that, without seeming contrived or too rigid, engages listeners and allows our appreciation to evolve over repeated listens.

Overall, this is a truly inspiring and enjoyable work which encourages me, as a musician, to challenge my own concepts of pacing and the limits of minimalism. Favorite tracks are Ground Truth, Derechos, and A Wake Pattern.

Jun 24

Hermelin

Hermelin’s self-titled, full length debut on 12rec is about two years old now. For some time it had fallen out of rotation on my playlists. But as I was streaming random selections the other day, I Felt Xetrov kicked in and sent me back to this gem of a release. In fact, you won’t find this one on 12rec’s current site – since it was released, the label has moved to a Bandcamp affiliated site. So you’ll have to go to the Internet Archive for this one: http://www.archive.org/details/12rec.049

12rec releases music in a variety of styles, and depending on the style I don’t always share their enthusiasm for particular artists. However, when it comes to post-rock, I think they’re dead on. Both Hermelin and Milhaven, 12rec’s featured post-rock outfits, have a fresh sound and an energy that comes across powerfully in their recordings. The songwriting from both bands is very strong, combining sparse guitar melodies and noise textures with minimalist bass and drum beats. Of the two, however, I strongly prefer Hermelin. Their songs have a bit more structure and movement, and they take a broader approach stylistically. Melodies and themes may evolve slowly, or they may come crashing towards you with spastic distortion. It’s a varied approach that really works for instrumental rock.

Standout tunes on the release are Nova Police, Pliant Fur, and …Sharp Teeth. If you like this one, the band also contributed to half of an earlier 12rec release which they shared with the band Junique Fois Pi.

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