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Most Spacemusic comes from a synthesizer. David Thompson's Subclavian I (63:56) comes from his heart. Recording here under the name Subclavian (and elsewhere as Phobos) this UK synthesist now presents three monumental movements of Berlin-School based music. Propelled by machine dreams and nocturnal imaginings his new endeavor ponders the promise of the future and our perpetual becoming across time. While the technology has changed the impulses have not. Each realization points to principles greater than itself, as it takes the listener on a lone outward journey of the mind. Arising from the desolate end of his keyboards Thompson issues a rapt midnight of lush harmony and expressive melodies, which pervades the balance of repeating sequencer notes and expressive synth lead lines - all beneath an alien atmosphere of sustaining tensions and spare textures. A variety of instrumental timbres support a progression of cool chords and convergences. Rhythm simply extends harmonic relationships into longer periods of time and bestows motion on those sectors of sonic mirage. Amidst the metronomical tempo and echoing patterns we will enjoy a deep zone mind melt - that is once we surrender to this wonderful cosmos of electronic sound and so absorb the rich experience this album offers. Subclavian I keeps alive not only the sounds and textures of the giants of the 1970s Kosmische Musik generation, but also the forward-thinking values known uniquely to this era. There is an undeniable passion here that comes through - rare in a genre that too often feels rote.
- Chuck van Zyl/STAR'S END 11 April 2024 |
