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At the outset of Two Roads (64'56") a special mood is set in motion. Headed by Brendan Pollard and Javi Canovas, this duo is joined by Adrian Dolente and Michael Daniel in an interrogation of ideas. Meant to capture something of their untamed interior lives this outfit sees themselves as a part of an ongoing chain of innovation. Creating music from the clockwork era, where timing was valued over time, this quartet makes music that opens up plenty of unrestricted dimensional space. Obviously inspired by Ricochet, (1975) the genre defining sequencer LP, Two Roads sits well next to contemporaneous works by fellow Tangerine Dream acolytes Arc, Node, Redshift and Free System Projekt. In this effort perhaps the instruments themselves are the greatest teachers. With a soundfield filled up by Rhodes piano, Mellotron, modular synthesizers, analogue sequencers, plate reverb and tape delay Two Roads offers sounds that oscillate in the mind between reality and dream as no modern production ever could. Each of the four tracks begins with a rapturous atmosphere laden interlude of drifting strings, reverberant flutes and buzzing electronic chords. How ironic that these most beautiful and mysterious of regions are fully realized with machines, yet have been achieved only by placing the human factor fully back into the algorithm of musical creation. Finding it difficult to discern which way is up or down, we learn that the only way out is through. Here Pollard, Canovas, Dolente and Daniel move the compositional arc along propulsive snapping tones - bleeping forward in ever changing echoing patterns. As the rhythms expand and contract, fatten and wane, full-blooded synth leads unfurl and ask us to surrender to our darkest dreams. Two Roads has a singular capacity to engage and stimulate the imagination. It is an album by men of deep mind. A descent into their psyche, we find that a longing for our musical past has benefits for the future. The past reminds us of what we are not now. The digital era values quickness over contemplation, but Pollard, Canovas, Dolente and Daniel got to places unattainable with just one mind in just one sitting - and enjoy the fact that this music still holds some secrets.
- Chuck van Zyl/STAR'S END 11 July 2013 |
