In Vital Weekly 1356 my colleague FdW wrote a review on the first chapter in this series. That first chapter contained four parts and two interludes. The second chapter missed our office but contained parts five through seven. This final chapter it’s parts 8 through 16, again with two short interludes.
This album is the final part of his retro-futurist trilogy, which ends his journey into early electronics and avant-garde classical music. Next to the modular system(s) we know he loves and uses a lot of the compositions is the (ab)use of a piano inside. This is how, in the past, a lot of electro-acoustic compositions started – and ended – so for me, the question I hoped to see answered was if this was something new. Is adding extensive modular synthesis to the recording of a piano being played ‘alternatively’ the start of something new? And after several listens, I sadly can’t give you an answer. Is it a bad album? No, it’s fun listening, and a few tracks are worth your time. Track 4 (“part 10”) is an example of how I like my electro-acoustic music. Hectic, complex yet a specific soothing character all over.
I don’t think I have enough experience listening to electro-acoustic music to appreciate this whole album fully. Listening to the modular parts, I get distracted by the piano abuse. But listening to the piano, I miss the clarity of sound to fully dive into what I’m hearing. So, instead of listening to the parts, I’ve tried listening to the sum of the parts. And yes, even though it’s labelled as a journey – so for me, an experiment to see what this research will bring – I miss a story being told. This album is a collection of well-executed experiments.
Comments
Post a Comment