| Artist: Anomalous Disturbances Album: The Spirit Molecule Label: Disappearing Music |  |
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It sounds like night. That's what comes to mind upon listening to The Spirit Molecule by Anomalous Disturbances. On his debut release, Terry O'Brien (aka Anomalous Disturbances) has put together an album of truley ambient music that seems to "seep" into the listening area - insidiously hissing and droning up through cracks in the floor and eventually engulfing us in varying shades of blue, grey, purple and black. The icey tones drift, merge and separate as moods freeze, crystalize and melt. The design of the album leads us thoughout a seemingly random course - over atmospheric iceflows, desolate alien landscapes and airless empty deserts. Many of the aural formations on The Spirit Molecule are realized by looping certain sonic phrases; but think of these areas as the re-emphasis of a revelatory simple truth as opposed to repetition of random thought. While this album does revel in its damp dark feel, there are also touching moments of tenderness - a wonderful contrast against the bleak churning of controlled guitar feedback and ghostly recombinant forms. These ephemeralities feel like some friendly flickering flame, briefly illuminating our gloom - providing direction and hope. The music ocillates between the tonal and atonal and treats timbre as its compositional basis. Here, much to the interest of our sensory perceptions, Anomalous Disturbances experiments with the transilience of dark and muted tone color. So open a window and let some night into your listening space while you drift off to The Spirit Molecule - because it is in darkness that we can most easily feel connected to the world.
- Chuck van Zyl/STAR'S END 22 March 2003 | |
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