Orchestramaxfieldparrish- The Silent Breath of Emptiness
( Faith Strange 07)
Orchestramaxfieldparrish- The Silent Breath of Emptiness
( Faith Strange 07)
From Aural Innovations #39 (May 2008)
Cultivating sonic terrain first explored by Fripp, Eno and other ambient anarchists,
Mike Fazio (who, for all intents and purposes, is Orchestramaxfieldparrish)
ventures into the hinterlands of tonal expressionism, creating strange un-guitarisms
that congeal and mass into virtual icebergs of sound. On each of the five distinct
parts of “The Silent Breath of Emptiness,” Fazio conceives and utilizes
his guitar as an orchestral instrument, his sweeping chords achieving an almost
symphonic grandeur while the drone of endless delays and the slow glacial drift
of key changes imply a studied minimalism absorbed from Glass and Reich but
filtered through Branca and other 80’s New York guitar terrorists. Among
the infinitely-sustained, ringing tones of Fazio’s guitar, one is at times
assaulted by abrasive dissonances and harsh metallic clusters of sound that
evoke the clatter of machinery and the kling-klang of heavy industry. But there
are also moments of stark beauty in several movements of this 50-minute composition.
At times, Fazio’s uncanny guitar symphony approaches the soaring ecstasy
of a Gregorian choir, creating a mood of temporary detachment from the terrestrial
world. Ultimately, what Fazio demonstrates on The Silent Breath of Emptiness
is that he’s equally at home in both the secular and the ecclesiastical
and in both the lyrical and the mechanical, as well. Like Fripp, he’s
a man at work with his machine.
You can visit the band web site at: http://www.myspace.com/orchestramaxfieldparrish
Visit the Faith Strange record label at: http://www.faithstrange.com/
Reviewed by Charles Van de Kree