Artist : K Wilson
Album : Otherworld
Year : 2012
Genre : Ambient
Quality : 232kbps / 44.1KHz / Joint Stereo
Source : CDR
Playtime : 0h 24m
Size : 41.76mb
Label : Twice Removed
Catalognr : TR007
Tracklist:
01. Otherworld 7:19
02. Boulders Theme 12:26
03. Cove 4:36
Releasenotes:
On hearing that K Wilson hails from Perth, Australia, one initially brings to
mind psychedelia, the vocal harmonies of the Beach Boys and a general feel of
living on the coast. Whilst the latter alone is all that is incorporated into
Wilson's debut release on Western Australian micro-label Twice Removed,
'Otherworld' warps our perspective of it to that of the coast on a foggy day,
with the viewer hidden from the world and content in their bubble of experience.
Consisting of field recordings, percussion and guitar, the record paradoxically
provides an intimate snapshot of down-time by the ocean whilst simultaneously
creating a landscape for one to get utterly lost in. And this landscape truly is
another world, as the title suggests. With the percussion being slowed down to
such an extent that it is sometimes indistinguishable from the recordings of the
ocean, a perfect backdrop is formed for chiming guitar lines to weave intricate
lines of tape delay through the listener's mind - truly introspective music.
Opening track 'Otherworld' is the beckoning gesture that begins this trip to the
coast. Comprising almost solely of layers of guitar loops, all seemingly made of
glass (field recordings being nowhere to be seen before the five minute mark and
even then only evident several minutes later during the piece's close), one is
slowly dragged down and relaxed into a particular frame of mind that only
occasionally happens when listening to ambient records - that of unquestioning
emotion. Whilst the aesthetic of glacial drones may appeal to some, making an
emotive connection with such delicate records as this puts K Wilson up amongst
the likes of Celer and Grouper; no mean feat, especially for a debut.
Making up the main body of the record, the listener is unconsciously lead into
twelve-minute 'Boulders Theme'. Hazy sounds of waves fades into slowly
throbbing, overdriven guitar and fleeting drifts of static. This track is the
eye of the storm that 'Otherworld' beckoned you towards previously, and ends
with five seconds of silence - the only occurrence of absolute quiet on the
record. This marks the beginning of the journey home; final track 'Cove' begins
boldly, with clean, sweeping guitar gestures again almost alone for several
minutes, before the surrounding landscape begins to make its mark, and what came
before is subverted into waves of reversed guitar, percussion and hissing
ambience.
The record, again impressively for an ambient record, never repeats itself in
such a way as parts of tracks or entire tracks become 'filler'. The entire feel
of 'Otherworld' is that of moving constantly forward, though through something
that isn't quite possible to explain.
http://www.futuresequence.com/article/kwilson-otherworld
http://twicerememberedtwiceremoved.bandcamp.com/album/otherworld