|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Review by Bill Binkelman Unlike his other recent release, Four, Dwight Ashley's discrete carbon is more abstract, darker, and may take a little more patience to appreciate. The album is a technical marvel, as Ashley crafts ambient tone poems, soundscapes, and other unstructured pieces from synths, guitar, piano, field recordings and something that in the liner notes is called "cheezio M-10." The album begins with the somber but beautiful "eightfold way" (under three minutes in length, unfortunately), a blend of piano and swirling electronic textures and chirping noises. The second track, "it happened in november," features dark rumbling (but compellingly melodic) synth tones merging with elegiac strings and strange whizzing textures and burbbling noises. The sense of dread is palpable but, like the darker tracks on Mychael Danna's skys (which this song compares favorably to), there is a strong sensation of beauty within the shadow. "katalepsis" opens with radio static and blooping signals chattering in both channels along with some barely discernible human dialogue. From the background comes a forlorn tone, warm and rich, as well as more artificial noise effects. A swelling/subsiding melody migrates the music into a more funereal mood and the languid pealing of an electric guitar brushes against the other elements and washes over it in sad colors. The album continues to stray from more traditional melodic ambient on later tracks, such as "i thought it was there" (more radio signals set against spacy wavering tones and pulses, as well as a deep drone, sometimes accompanied by abstract scratching distortions), and "denial" (a track that could be the soundtrack for a subtle nightmare, i.e. a vision which scares you in such deceptively simple ways that the terror comes to you unexpectedly over time). "denial" blends ringing bell tones and twinkling glass with eerie drones, electronic noises, and spacey effects. "a colossus succumbs" attempts to intermix a pleasant strain of melodic elements with distortions at the periphery, juxtaposing the mildly distorted warm music with rumbling, buzzing sounds and, eventually, chirping bird song. Of all the pieces on discrete carbon, it's probably my least favorite. "examined by tweezers" is the longest cut on the CD (at nine and a half minutes) and features synth chorales, an undulating synth drone, and at the periphery of the soundfield, an assortment of weird electronic effects. Because of the presence of the chorales, this track approaches the aesthetic of deep spacemusic, something along the lines of music from The Foundry label, however much "louder" and "fuller." The chorale effects at the cut's conclusion sound a lot like Constance Demby's Novus Magnificat. "carbon" closes the album (except for a hidden short solo piano track) and it is far and away the most bizarre thing here, sounding more like it came from a recording on Staalplaat/Soleilmoon than Dwight Ashley. Completely abstract and impossible to accurately describe, it's a foreboding and eerie selection that is not for the timid if you're in a dark room and have an active imagination (or, on the other hand, maybe that's exactly how it should be listened to). The bonus track is unbelievably asynchronous to the rest of the album and I'll leave my comments at that! discrete carbon is a challenging yet satisfying album which, like other recordings of this type (I'm reminded of the work from Daniel Byerly under his various pseudonyms), takes an investment of time and effort on the part of the listener to reap what it's sowing. Definitely not a recording which will be as appealing as background music as it is listened to on headphones with no distractions, the CD will reward the patient ambient fan who doesn't need a lot of coloring inside the lines to enjoy his/her music. Recommended, unless you're in need of cheering up (in which case, can I interest you in some Jonn Serrie?). |
|
