| Info |  |
We All Fall Down - Off The Sky & The Circular Ruins | |||||||||||||||||||
| |
 Any collaboration between Jason Corder (Off The Sky: samples and loops) and Anthony Paul Kerby (The Circular Ruins: synths, treatments, samples) should prove interesting, at the least. Mixing Corder's quasi-whimsical idiosyncratic pops, clicks, glitch and beats with Kerby's darker textural ambient landscapes yields many things, but boring is certainly not on the radar. We All Fall Down proved itself to be of two-minds, both of them appealing but geared towards different moods. Earlier tracks, such as 5000 Visions, and Your Unknown Hand, contain sparkly and cheery Corder laptop glitch manifestations set against APK's warm melodic embellishments. The latter track is positively grin-inducing, as scratches and infectious beats play off of swirling synths, spacy retro-washes and percolating pops. Things gradually descend into a darker haunting environment, beginning on This Final Place which glows with subterranean luminescence. Corder pulls out all the stops with a cornucopia of noises and rhythms while Kerby brings shadowy textural sculptures into play. The title track brings the juxtaposition into clear focus as fluid and morose yet pastoral washes of keyboards flow underneath bouncy slap-happy loping beats with a sprinkling of pleasantly weird noises and effects. By the time one hits tracks like Burn for Those Who are Silent, (with its near funereal mood of organ swells and chittering chatterings) and the inky black drones and phasing-in-and-out bursts of keyboard chords of And Then I Remember, the overall tone of the album has veered away from any light-heartedness and toward a substantive yet contemplative cauldron of haunting (but not spooky) sonic visions (typical of much of Kerby's music, whether as TCR or Lammergeyer). Lasting Impression concludes things in a vein somewhat similar to recent APK releases Borders and Barrens and Their Subtle Purpose, with sporadic bursts of crackling electric static sizzling over a bed of ebbing flowing somber tonalities before fading out in a SF-influenced radio transmission-like event. By the album's end, Corder's more optimistic touches are subdued, relegated to being darker and more atmospheric in nature. That doesn't make We All Fall Down any less compelling, perhaps even the opposite. While not as instantly appealing as Corder's previous stellar effort, Gently Down The Stream, this combo platter of two accomplished and talented ambient artists invites repeated introspective examination on dark winter nights in order to delve into its assorted musical chasms and caverns, checking the nooks and crannies for whatever lurks there in the shadows. Review by Bill Binkelman
|
|
||||||||||||||||||
