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Review by Bill Binkelman civilization here by Kom Ombo (Brad Hall) should have been reviewed quite a while ago by yours truly, something I feel badly about. It's a great recording, although more than a little difficult to accurately describe. It combines elements of ambient, dark ambient, ethno-tribal, world fusion and meditative music, and wraps it all up in some of the more mesmerizing and haunting soundscapes I've heard in a while. During my most recent playing, I imagined myself exploring ancient ruins, the music evoking images of long-abandoned temples and palaces, shrouded in fog and overgrown with lush vegetation. The music can be "creepy" at times, but never in such a away that it's oppressive or scary. It's more of a "looking over your shoulder" feeling that permeates the tracks, where you start wondering if someone or something is lurking in the shadows. Hall states, in the liner notes, that he was inspired to record this album after visiting Egypt, Africa, Asia and parts of the Americas. He plays an assortment of instruments, e.g. drums, percussion, and keyboards, voice, source material (environmental sounds?) and also adds "ambient electronic soundscapes." Sandie Hall contributes some vocals (and great ones at that) to the first song on the album. That first song is a stunningly evocative number called "secret of the desert" and consists of sensual low undulating drones and wordless vocalizings that are multi-tracked and deeply echoed (both Sandie and Brad provide sampled vocals to the piece). I can't even begin to describe how cool the flowing electronics and earthy vocals are when intermixed. "empty hands" starts off with the sounds of wind, flowing water, thunder and rain, and also features struck brass bowls or some kind of gong, resonating with excellent clarity, as well as a throbbing texture, burbbling noises, and muted bass drum beats. If you enjoy Robyn Miller's soundtrack to the computer game Riven you're gonna enjoy this selection. "passage" is somewhat more abstract, containing strange huffing noises (like the labored breathing of a giant beast), underlying synth drones, and mildly distorted electronic textures. Shifting gears abruptly, the title track features singing bowls (their tones and vibrations linger in the air for a long time), the sound of thunder and rain, eerie vocalizings (some of which once again have the characteristic of labored breathing), skittering noises, what might be the sound of electricity arcing, and trace SF/synth noises, e.g. laser zaps. I know it sounds like a jumble, but to Hall's credit, it's not just cohesive but also compelling and even intoxicating! Later in the song, I swear I hear a police or fire siren in the background! "delta" blends didgeridoo with echoing metallic tones, crickets and birdsong, and darkly shaded ominous synth washes/chords, all of which add up to a visual image of walking through dense jungle undergrowth toward that mysterious ancient temple I described above. The final track is "morph" and it is the most "out there" with vocalizings that have to be heard to be believed (if you dig "Several Species of Small Furry Creatures Gathered Together in a Cave and Grooving with a Pict" from Pink Floyd's UmmaGumma then you might really love this, although where the former is quirky and subversively funny, this is just flat out strange and eerie). It sucks that I have been so busy and had such a huge backlog of music to review so that a worthy recording such as civilization here got delayed. I hope that more than a few of you contact Brad Hall and inquire about its availability. If you fancy ambient music that transports you away from your ordinary life and environment, this album is gonna trip you out! It compares favorably to works from artists like Steve Roach (at his most primally atmospheric), Robert Rich, Brannan Lane, and a host of others. One of the things I have tried through the years with Wind and Wire was to turn my readers on to artists whose talents are unique and worthy of special mention but who lay way outside the mainstream flow of notoriety. Brad Hall is one of these artists and I strongly recommend you check him out. |
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