Gray Field Recordings - "Sing 99 and 90"
(Ethedrone Recordings 2003)
Gray Field Recordings - "Sing 99 and 90"
(Ethedrone Recordings 2003)
From Aural Innovations #24 (July 2003)
First full length CD from this Oklahoma project of one R. Loftiss and guests, following a very fine CDEP ("As One Cast Down By Sadness" reviewed in AI #20) from 2001. On this new release the musical palette is expanded yet further, including a fine foray into feedback/noise manipulations, the textural opener "Every Earthly Pendulum". "Destroyed" and "Wait In Silence" are both constructed from drones that sound like they are both voice and instruments with mysterious whispered narratives cloaked in clouds of reverb and echo. After a few spins I would say that these tracks have the dark, experimental feel of early industrial music, back in the early days of such labels as United Dairies - the work of Diana Rogerson (under the moniker Crystal Belle Scrod) comes to mind, as well as the dark experimental and vaguely gothic releases of the more recent Ventricle label, which I could see this being released by. "Songs Unsung" is the most reminiscent of the earlier release, a lovely slice of drone/folk. Although it’s a varied release in terms of approach it all comes from the same basic place and through that maintains a coherence that holds up well as an overall listening experience. Once again, I highly recommend.
For more information you can visit the Gray Field Recordings web site at: http://www.ethedrone.com/grayfieldrecordings.
Hear sound files at their Mp3.com web site at: http://www.mp3.com/grayfieldrecordings.
Reviewed by Brian Faulkner