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a r t i s t : Andrew Chalk
t i t l e : The River That Flows Into The Sands
d a t e : 2005
l a b e l : Faraway Press 2
g e n r e : Avantgarde
r l s. d a t e : Jan/2006
t r a c k s : 05
b i t r a t e : VBRkbps
s i z e : 54,1 MB
_______________________________________________________________________
released as CDR in edition of 100 (2005), later as CD (2005).
"After reviewing Vega, I was sure that Andrew Chalk had some
new tricks up his sleeve. Albums like Fall in the Wake of a
Flawless Landscape and Over the Edges were dynamic by virtue of
their tonal range or through the use of multiple layers
shifting throughout the record. Vega saw Chalk working with the
subconscious, slowly pulling it apart through slow spatial
manipulation. Here, Chalk centers his attention on the guitar
and develops a series of meditations that gives his music new
depth.
The first thirty seconds of this record is alarming, mostly
because I wasn't sure that it was Andrew Chalk I was listening
to. The rest of the album slowly unfolds in ways that I never
imagined Chalk would approach. Once I was finished being
surprised, the rest of this record slowly mesmerized me. Its
serenity is all-encompassing and natural. Instead of providing
a steady wave of sounds all interlaced and humming, Chalk has
delivered a series of slowly released guitar tones that fade
into and out of each other. The silence that is left on the
album and the spaces provided between the sounds is what makes
all the difference and is cause enough for excitement. Add the
inclusion of very distinct melodies and it becomes clear that
Chalk is a composer capable of reinventing his music with grace
and style.
While all drone music has a drifting quality to it, The River
that Flows Into the Sands is worthy of that description for a
different reason. The expanses that normally come to mind when
I listen to Chalk are gone on this album and replacing those
images is a sense of continuous movement. I can only imagine
what the sudden arrival of silence and calm must feel like when
astronauts puncture the atmosphere and escape Earth's pull, but
the weightlessness that everyone has seen in the movies has
been translated into sound by Chalk. I think almost anyone can
imagine what that feels like. The bowed instruments and
contracting moans seem weightless and inconsequential, floating
away into nothing, but leaving a path for other sounds to
follow. Like a fountain each drone bubbles up and slowly fades
away or evolves into a new drone and each time a sound
disappears, there is a new voice there to replace it. Multiple
listens will reveal, however, that Chalk really hasn't left
that much silence on the record. That illusion is generated via
the way Chalk mixes very distinct melodic features with fairly
constant tones. As they move about together, a sense of space
is opened up that may not actually exist. The effects are as
real as possible, though, and there is little room for doubt
that this one of the most unique albums in Chalk's discography.
Chalk has also broken The River that Flows... into five
distinct parts. This would make sense, normally, if all the
pieces were of roughly the same length and if each represented
some portion of a theme. But, each of the first four pieces
hover around the five to seven minute mark and the final track
spreads out over eighteen minutes. Not only has Chalk's music
developed a new kind of movement that, up until now, was
completely foreign to his work, The River that Flows... also
marks the only time I have ever seen Chalk structure an album
in a way that suggests each piece is a distinct song meant to
be considered as an entity unto itself. Though I'd be hard
pressed to listen to any of these by themselves, there is a
sense that many of these songs are meant to stand on their own
two legs. It is easy to think that this is meant to be an album
of thematic proportions because much of the record is
melancholy. The droning strings are reminiscient of the slowest
and saddest of cello sonatas, but aside from that feature the
characteristics that each of the songs share is minimal. Each
moves in a different way and each elicits emotional responses
in different ways.
Chalk's releases this year stand out. Not just because they are
amazing albums of a beauty few can produce, but also because
each one marks out a very distinct kind of drone record. The
River that Flows into the Sands is perhaps the most distinct of
the three. It is Chalk's most charming album and it is easily
his most addictive. If nothing else, it is a record that might
attract fans who wouldn't normally buy a drone album. It is an
addictive hobby, so be prepared to spend plenty of time on
websites searching for another fix as good as this one." (Lucas
Schleicher)
_______________________________________________________________________
01-The River That Flows Into The Sands Part 1 [06:52]
02-The River That Flows Into The Sands Part 2 [05:07]
03-The River That Flows Into The Sands Part 3 [04:35]
04-The River That Flows Into The Sands Part 4 [05:14]
05-The River That Flows Into The Sands Part 5 [18:02]
-------
39:50 min