|
Throughout Eight (68'55") Pollard/Daniel/Booth make an exploration into the uncharted depths of the imagination. Favoring the simple expression of complex thoughts, this trio visits realms they may never have discovered on their own. Over its four tracks Eight builds a mysterious drama. In varying transparence the exquisite turbulence of roiling modulations and sustaining chords supports vintage Mellotron lead sounds, red-blooded synth lines and expressive electric guitar tones - all in service to the realization of a dynamic sound experience. Following the dissipation of its vague dread and sonic voids, this area's central mass gives way to the signature interlacing layers of pumping sequencer patterns expected of this ensemble. Within its geometric planes and compressed space we may find a labyrinthine web - revealing an instantaneous unity between multiple crisscrossing and planar fields. These splintered forms and kaleidoscopic flickering surfaces seem to evoke the energy and dynamism of traveling through space - but without ever a thought of the vehicle used to make the journey, nor the destination. As music making machines recast the artist as an engineer, armed with modular synthesizers in place of pianos and violins, the genre of Electronic Music would seem to downplay the role of the artist's hand. But with the rapid advancement of technology turning us ever inward to investigate the expressive qualities of sound, the better players in this field have adopted an approach, not so much pertaining to what the instruments are capable of, but what is the creative mind behind the instruments capable of? For Pollard/Daniel/Booth, each encounter with the musical exercises found on their album Eight will reveal, not technicians merely operating an apparatus, but a collective spirit - as they examine and ascertain an atmospheric depth, and contribute again to the restless genre of Spacemusic.
- Chuck van Zyl/STAR'S END 25 October 2018 |
