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Inward looking, yet continually expansive, Pilgrimage (54'18") by Meg Bowles gives musical form to thought and a unique passage through the world. Geared toward soft cerebral states this passionate, brainy album takes flight in our imaginations - where its beauty often surpasses that of reality. Energized rather than daunted by the inexhaustible creative nature of her field, Bowles plots a sweeping journey of dramatically shifting moods and detailed aural landscapes. Pilgrimage features six tracks, each a unique spell cast by slow motion synthesizer fields of consonance and serenity. The tones are clear and calm, and meant to liberate contemplative states already within the listener. Atmosphere, texture and mood all unite in gentle converging currents. Secret voices emit a warm glow amid receding forms, as abandoned melodies hover over drifting sonic designs. While electronic aggregations progress in cycles, gather force and then subside, harmony is expressed in a breathing stack of intervals. Alive with the pleasures of synthesis interludes of tremulous repose inundate shimmery string timbres. Rolling swells, rich harmonies and peels of sound spark one charged moment after another - yet exploring the scale of this music is what leads us ever upward. Arriving whenever we get there, on this journey we are in no particular hurry to reach our destination. Traveling these spaces the listener may roam blithely - dissolved into something great and complete, or seek ardently - as one should on a Pilgrimage. Searching through this sonic realm you may discover new or expanded ways to hear and feel, or merely experience the beautiful stillness and charm within the resounding immensity of Bowles' music.
- Chuck van Zyl/STAR'S END 26 May 2022 |
