Labels: Ten Recordings
Review by: Captain Fidanza
The previous release from Dominic Deane (October 2010’s Lowlands) was one of my very favourite things I’ve ever received from Collective, so it was with great anticipation that I placed this into the slot on the side of the iMac and waited for it to load. The fact the inbuilt CD played doesn’t work properly anymore and I had to reinsert the disc seven more times drained a little of the magic from the moment, but when it was all loaded into iTunes, I set the disc going and let it breathe.
Perhaps because it was inspired by the landscapes of Alaska, the instrumental music here is significantly more rugged and adventurous when compared to the relatively pastoral and bucolic sounds of Lowlands. It is in many ways, more reminiscent of this artist’s other project, the much-lauded (by me at least) Sunwolf, with longer, louder and seemingly grizzlier music, built perhaps to survive the rigours of a harsh North America winter. Although it didn’t resonate with me in quite the same way as the previous album, there is still much here to like and admire for anyone interested in the hypnotic qualities of finely-crafted drone.
Incidentally, the Bandcamp page references the work of John Carpenter, who I am off to watch perform his soundtracks at The Troxy in East London tomorrow evening. See you there!