|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
review by Dene Bebbington After a several year hiatus from music making Carl Matthews has in recent years got back to it and Life Force is the latest album to come from his renewed efforts. I've not heard any of his other music (including his works from the 1970s and 1980s) so it was good to discover a "new" artist and not have any preconceptions when approaching the music. This is one of those albums which could be described as a musical collage since it contains eleven tracks of varying styles each exploring particular ambient, rhythmic, and melodic territory - kind of like Circular's Glass Darkly. Across the eleven tracks there's plenty of variety, though the majority of tracks are rhythmic and melodic to some extent. Typically this is done in the context of ambient explorations, some of which are dark and mysterious, and occasionally things get rather experimental - like on the first track "Agni Hotra (Fire Ritual)". This piece begins with industrial groaning and crashing sounds, snippets of a baroque style voice are heard and then a busy metallic rhythm plus a beat gets going and is joined by a bright melody - all swirling around in a lively fashion. Most of the tracks on Life Force are good, and there aren't any really bad ones. The first highlight for me is "Mantras (Vibrational Equasion)" with its layers of complex drum beats, near vocal blowing synth sounds, and melody; another nice touch is the ambient interlude in the middle featuring a piano melody. The final track "Ketu (Node)" also really appeals to me, it's a short drum 'n' bass piece making use of quirkily processed voice samples. The one problem with variegated albums like Life Force is that the lack of cohesiveness across the album can tempt one to treat it as sonic wallpaper. That would be a shame though because Carl has created some wonderful sounds, rhythms, and melodies which deserve the listener's attention ; he's crafted an eclectic work that is inventive and fun. |
|