Philip Jeck began exploring
composition using record players and electronics in the early
1980's. His most famous release came with ‘The Sinking of
the Titanic’, an acclaimed collaboration with Gavin Bryars
and Alter Ego. With ‘Sand’, Jeck makes a returns to
the industrial textures that coloured his first release ‘Loopholes’,
but fuses them with his symphonic grace and continued development
as a composer and live performer. The seven tracks on ‘Sand’
move deep into the realms of organic dark ambience, similar in
vein to Windy & Carl’s suffocating sheets of atmospheric
drone but morphed within a sci-fi-esque ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’
aesthetic. Haunting textures of buzzing drone, harsh crackle and
deep lucid bass bob ceremoniously like rippling waves in a bitterly
cold Nordic bay, the elements joining forces in an attempt to
hide the solace of semi-recognisable melodies that have become
so frayed and distant.
Jeck works with old records and record
players salvaged from junk shops turning them to his own purposes
and playing them like musical instruments. ‘Sand’
was recorded live in Holland and England and edited using relatively
rudimentary audio equipment which may contribute to the (intended)
harshness of some of the prickly, treble heavy skree that exudes
from the speakers. Occasional, scathing attacks of Merzbowian
white noise will root listeners to their chairs whilst, in his
quieter moments, shades of Thomas Brinkmann’s turntable
experiments seep through. ‘Fanfares’ sounds like a
sunken orchestra that gets caught up in a subversive loop, its
frayed melodics hypnotically shimmering from beyond the droney
sludge like shafts of light attempting in vain to penetrate the
surface. ‘Shining’ takes on an eerie sub-aqua arabesque
vibe, like the forgotten recordings by krautrocker’s ‘Agitation
Free’ on their fact-finding tour of Egypt. Subtly expanding
oud-like drones waft over hypnotically meandering and slowly intensifying
frequency manipulations to make a sound like a silent but deadly
dust cloud engulfing a once bustling, now baron terrain.
Proceedings start to become denser in the
second half of the album with the manipulated vinyl sounds expanding
in stature to create lusher sheets of trans-melodic drone closer
in sound to Tangerine Dream or a depressed Terry Riley who only
has access to the leftside of his organ. The bustling of ‘Fanfares
Over’ recollects the dystopian aura of Blade Runner era
Los Angeles with its mesmerising soundwave warps and percussive
vinyl clicks that clamber progressively like an army of insects
marching yonder. The whole thing then disappears into a short-lived
static fuelled lull before a final onslaught of harsh blizzard-sonic’s
formed by jostling shards of drone and static. The abrupt ending
is so abrupt that the ensuing silence psychically hurts. With
‘Sand’ Jeck has crafted a surreal piece of progressive
drone that swirls with hypnotic intent. (KS)
For
fans of: The Caretaker, Wendy Carlos, Tangerine Dream, Thomas
Brinkmann, Windy & Carl, Merzbow, Thomas Koner
Click
to buy Sand
Write
about this album here
|
