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█ █ P U B L I C . S O U N D
█ █
█ █ presenting our latest release
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r e l e a s e . i n f o
Artist.....: A Broken Consort
Title......: The Shape Leaves
Rip Date...: Jan-23-2007 Cat.No.....: SRL05
Style......: Ambient Label......: Sustain-Release
Quality....: VBRkbps Type.......: Album
Size.......: 58,9 MB Source.....: CDDA
r e l e a s e . n o t e s
Check out http://www.sustain-release.co.uk to get in on this neat
little CDR label.
Richard Skelton's new project A Broken Consort tap's into a
bountiful vein of sound. Sitting somewhere comfortably between
Flying Saucer Attack's Further, the first Six Organs of Admittance
album and Tony Conrad's Early Minimalism, The Shape of Leaves is a
seemingly timeless work of multilayered string drones augmented by
subtle percussion and the scraping of strings. While Skelton's
reference points are sometimes very obvious, The Shape Leaves
remains a deeply personal and evocative listening experience.
A Broken Consort exists in a mist-enshrouded world of melancholy.
This is music for the late evening hours or the grey, days of
winter. Best reserved for moments when one will not be interrupted
so that one is able to drift off, ruminate, and lose oneself in
this record. A time to slip away, sip on wine, read poetry, or
contemplate some transcendental image.
Moving through The Shape Leaves one finds that each track exists
in a similar space, contains similar textures with delicately
shifting changes. The intent was most likely to capture the
listener within its space for the duration of the disc. The main
sounds are created from a variety of bowed string instruments
creating a large mass of droning overtones. Adding to this is the
soft rumbling of distant percussion, well-placed acoustic guitar
meditations and the occasional scrape and pluck of the strings.
What makes the music on The Shape Leaves so successful is
Skelton's careful attention to the positioning of each sound in
the mix. The percussion is just audible enough to sound like it is
coming from several miles away, while the location of strings come
from indiscernible points both near and far creating a feeling of
slow and drifting movement. The Shape Leaves experientially could
be compared to walking through the woods alone, during the first
snow, where the normal sounds of the world are hushed and all
initially appears rather silent, yet subtle nuances are
continually drifting in and out of focus from all points. 9/10
Using loops and sustained droning chords to create layered
soundscapes, Richard Skelton has created a slowly evolving
collection of pieces that could be soundtracks for time-lapse
films of flowers slowly growing or the movements of clouds across
the sky.
In The Hanged Air opens the album beautifully, a gentle cascade of
sound, with the droning bowed notes, softened by the
half-forgotten melodies underneath, the music slowly undulating
creating new phrases and patterns as it moves forward. For A
Momentary Sun muffled percussion is added, the music remaining
light and perfectly balanced creating a sense of weightlessness,
Something that is less apparent on And All Their Silver And Gold,
where the dense layers of sound create a more sinister and
claustrophobic atmosphere.
At only two minutes thirty six, For Nothing is a drifting piece of
psychedelia, a repetitive tambourine offering stability in a
vortex of whistle bells and drones that is over far too soon. The
last listed track The Longing Day is also one of the finest, here
the drones are given time to develop and play against each other,
each listen revealing new combination of sound, The music never
being allowed to fall into chaos, always retaining its sense of
identity.
Having come this far, a bonus/hidden track is revealed to our
ears, the music given free reign over fifteen glorious minutes as
the piece build into a crescendo of light, flickering and
oscillating with an intensity of purpose, the music taking on a
life of its own.
Having recently met Richard, I know that he maintains a tight
quality control on his own music and this fact is very evident on
the album, each track having a sonic consistency whilst being
allowed to develop its own character, something that makes for a
very enjoyable listening experience indeed. As with other Sustain
Release cd-rs, the packaging is also constructed to the highest
standards, echoing the music within.
p l a y l i s t
01 in the hanged air 07:30
02 a momentary sun 04:18
03 and all their silver & gold 07:58
04 for nothing 02:36
05 the longing day 06:34
06 (untitled track) 14:54
43:50 min
g r e e t i n g s
agw - amok - bass - bcc - bex - boss - cmg - cmc - cms - d2h
def - dh - disc0 - drum - emp - ftd - fwyh - gem - i8 - ipc
jce - jfk - jrp - just - khz - kinky - kw - lame - maem - mbs
mgc - psycz - r2r - rac - radial - rapid - rks - rtb - sb
sever - sfe - soup - sour - sq - tr - trt - ube - uc - upe
uki - xtc - yard - zi
respect to music lovers worldwide
never forget : go to the show. buy the t-shirt. order the vinyl