| Artist: Harold Budd Album: In the Mist Released: 27 September 2011 |   |
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Harold Budd has traveled musically far and wide, yet his examination of the subject is quite deep. In the Mist is a long hoped for studio album - so laden with reverb it sounds more like it was recorded in a cavern. In this meditative, almost mesmeric music, we easily become lost in the misty reality between wakefulness and sleep. The first several pieces are for piano and seem to utilize a more flexible, less-theory bound means of composing. During this section Budd delivers each piano note so slowly that the listener is hearing more the sound and character of the space than the instrument. The silences and hesitations between notes lead to an almost motionless, uncharacteristically lean sonic landscape. In some places Budd's playing drifts off into an ambient reverie, slowly advancing along a contour of hidden designs. The remaining pieces are for string quartet and, although more structured, continues the unique deliberate pacing and massive sonic reflections of the opening piano section. Through his many albums and concerts Budd realizes a unique rare world. With In the Mist he is reaching for even more emotional range. Those new to the music of Harold Budd should first listen to works such as The Pearl or his famous collaboration with Brian Eno, The Plateaux of Mirror - which have impressed and influenced a vast number of listeners and musicians. Fans and collectors of his music, those who desire more insight into the many wonderful facets of this incomparable composer, will want to hear In the Mist. Much like poetry, this work has a silent depth at its center.
- Chuck van Zyl/STAR'S END 2 November 2011 | |
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