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Musical collaborators Ian Boddy & Markus Reuter seem guided by a shared energy that is quite different during each of their outings. Colour Division (52'52") is their 5th album together and it is yet another distinctive contribution to the innovative music genre. With its poet-backed craftsmanship and tech-tinged bravado Colour Division should prove irresistible to space-rockers and cosmic-drifters alike. While overall Colour Division orbits smoothly along a coolly experimental, atmospheric and harmonic ellipse, two of its seven tracks fly quite close to the sun - producing some of the most kinetic and moving head-music ever. While Reuter channels the style and spirit of a young Robert Fripp, Boddy constructs throbbing bass and pumping beats to drive these pieces into Prog-Rock territory. Beyond the heat of this electro-rush Boddy & Reuter conjure up much cooler moods. Within each smooth track arises a gentle intensity. The expertly guided energy arcs magically through the several moments transpired by each work - Reuter's guitar alternately snaking melodically then slowly breathing ambient chords. An admirer of these sounds and tones Boddy plays with them as well as counters them. From metallic, scraping timbres to Rick Wakeman-like Minimoog leads, he flies then lulls in Colour Division's dark and bright zones. These two bring way more heat to their project than the typical Spacemusic/Ambient duo. A synthesizer moans, the guitar sighs, and this duo moves imaginatively from the abstract to the heartfelt, by way of cerebral high-octane muscularity. In rawness and refinement Boddy & Reuter bring their own lives to this music.
- Chuck van Zyl/STAR'S END 19 September 2013 |
