BETHANY CURVE
543414
CD
SKIES A CROSSED SKY
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SPACE-ROCK (PSYCH)This has to rate as one of the best CD's I've heard in this genre, and it is absolutely unique! There are a total of seventy-one glorious minutes to this album and every one of the 13 tracks played by this four-piece line-up is just a total wonder to behold. Phased soundscapes, cascading, sliding electric bass solid drums, vast synth backdrops and incredible electric guitar textures, feedback and loops fly and soar elegantly and to mind-expanding effect on electric panoramas that stretch for miles – And all that comes one of the best ever eight minute opening tracks ever! The music that follows is equally mind-blowing, working well at any volume, as ethereal or explosively powerful, the content and production are brilliant, and the playing & construction just perfect. This CD has got to be one of the best, most unique and rewarding guitar based music albums that I’ve ever heard. An album you will be playing for a long, long time to come. Every bit a true classic!
The album opens with ‘Vanish’, an eight-minute epic, where a phased soundscape of slow, lurching but solid drums, with a vast synth backdrop and the most incredible wall of electric guitar textures that you've ever heard. These are not drones – it’s a whole lot more interesting and refreshing, as the soundscape contains elements of lead guitars, feedback, drone density and more on a quite incredible sound that just flies and soars elegantly and to mind-expanding effect, over the emerging rhythm foundation of solid drums and cascading, sliding electric bass, creating an electric panorama that stretches for miles. A distant voice appears at the same level as the instrumental textures, then dies away almost immediately, but it returns eventually as though it’s just another instrument. This heavy, yet beautiful cauldron of sonic textures that are flowing ever onwards, sidle to what you think is the end, but then it picks up steam once more, puts the rumbling electric bass way upfront for a bit more, and then it all dies down again to leave a sea of acoustic and electric guitars plus synth space sounds to see out what must be one of the best ever opening tracks ever. ‘Rest In Motion’ is built on similar constructions, but a more urgent galloping rhythmic base is present right from the beginning. The electric bass and slightly more distant multi-guitar textures gradually build the intensity level, and the eventual slow motion tidal wave of guitars, bass and drums surges forward, with odd relaxing intervals in between, putting the bass to the front of the mix in classic New Order style only without the commercial element that goes with it. This track is far denser and yet somehow much more atmospheric than ever the Cocteau Twins were, and it's got a lot of early Eno in it, particularly tracks such as 'Faraway Beach', definitely albums like ‘Taking Tiger Mountain By Storm’ and a fair bit of ‘Another Green World’, only dropping any fusion content and concentrating on the shimmering beauty and gorgeous landscapes created by the guitars and bass together. ‘Troly’ is the 3rd track and it begins with one of the best sound patterns on the whole album, as a sinewy bass wanders around a central spine of shimmering, cascading guitars that just hang there as one massive sonic sculpture - a thing of shining radiance, with what sounds like a far distant keyboard sound adding to the textures as the track eventually fades and leads straight into the 4th track. ‘Spacirelei’ begins with muscular drum rhythms, as the fading soundscape of the previous track are vaguely re-introduced and continues to shine like a supernova in the heaven as it gathers even more layers around itself. This combination of drums, guitars and bass glows golden in the skies, as a distant voice flies high overhead to grand effect – again, it is very Eno-esque and just superb. The finale of ‘Spacirelei’ will send you into complete raptures, but then every second of all seventy-one minutes of this album are just a wonder to behold, and to briefly scan over all that follows these first four pieces – The euphoria will continue through the bass-driven wonders of the guitar/bass intermix of the 7th track ‘Mot Juste’ as they shimmer and rumble, the explosive, yet restrained power of ‘Follow From Swallow’ as it slowly thunders through your head, and the mind-numbing wall of fuzz guitars that dominate ‘Sand Blaster’, which are offset against a backdrop of tight bass and almost buried drums with the soothing voice acting out the part of extra instrumental texture to startling effect. The massive spaceship sounds of ‘Gren Shanka’ are like some vast interplanetary craft taking off, and then fragile thunder that is ‘Serene and Smiling’ is quite awesome, plus there’s a whole lot more besides.
Weight: 150.00 g
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