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When he sleeps, Ian Boddy surely dreams of his synthesizers. But when Boddy's synthesizers slumber, do they ever dream of him? Sublimating reality with the power of sound Modulations III (181'52") continues a period of remarkable creative expansion. Heading out without a destination our confident quester summons frenzied and desolate moods with equal conviction. In shades and degrees of timbre Boddy utilizes his Modular gear to express an extraordinary range and vitality. His seven striking sonic inventions, roaming from several minutes to almost an hour, extend from metabolic eruptions and high tension stillness on down to a more reasoned set of quiet thoughts. Throughout Modulations III Boddy plays as if he has something trapped inside him, which seems to be escaping in reeling groans and electronic surges. Producing free-spirited works bursting with the joy of making he communicates a sense of motion in the breathless rush of secrets shared. Searching phrases shiver as strangely, smartly set forms rise with precision and variety. Further in soundtrack ready swells sink into an entrancing haze of electrical activity - settling in an atmosphere of doleful retreat. Where tones glow and grow more abstract they become distant from personal experience, and so float more freely across time and space and into the interior realm. Progressing from straight abstraction to an idyllic synthetic ambience, then advancing venturesome melodies over bulletproof drums our wild adventure feels transmitted from somewhere out ahead. The future is all around us, yet is revealed quite unevenly. Actively attending this album, we get a glimpse. While Ian Boddy continues his efforts to master the use of color, scale, and composition his well-warmed synths leave the listener in a restless mood - waiting for the next group of transcendent realizations in this exceptional compilation series.
- Chuck van Zyl/STAR'S END 18 May 2023 |
