Melancholy
So, obviously, I did screw up. Very obviously, indeed.#[prophecy] What to do in such a situation?
Right: Grab those really melancholic tunes in your iTunes library and listen to them repeatedly while wallowing in self-pity. Niiice! Here are some new records I discovered recently to accomplish this in the most beautiful way.
[prophecy]: Did someone back there say ’self-fullfilling prophecy’? Hush! We’re not going to talk about that now.
Deaf Center: Pale Ravine
Pale Ravine is basically the record that brought me to the following records as well. A friend of mine once gave it to me, saying that I might like it. He couldn’t have guessed just how much I do.
Pale Ravine is at first glance an album of slow motions, of scattered strings, of pianos slightly lost and disoriented, of silent, frosty grief. But there’s more.
Once you get lost in those melodies, you realise that the ice isn’t as thick as you thought, that beneath the surface there is something lurking more menacing and evil than you expected. Shadows scratch the ice from below, barely visible movements. Gone before you really see them. They might be ghosts — but this would be the nice version.
The two Norwegians of Deaf Center draw you into their complex layers/lairs of music, hiding more than showing and therefore letting your imagination running wild. Music has never been more soothing and frightening the same time.
This record has been released on Type Records and before I move on to the other to records I discovered on Type Records because of Pale Ravine, as a side note the fact that the members of Deaf Center have a netlabel called Miasmah, where more interesting music can be found — for free.
Goldmund: Corduroy Road
The first track on Corduroy Road sounds like a nursery rhyme. How silly, you might say. Silly? No. Simple? Definitely — but simple in a good way, as in ‘Keep It Simple, Stupid’. Inspired by American folk songs, these compositions don’t try to be elaborate and complicated, all layering is left befind, leaving the listener with a piano, and sometimes a guitar. Nothing else is necessary.
One might be tempted to use the word ‘bare’ to describe the recording, but I’m not so sure it would really fit. The recording is far from being perfect, in fact, it never tries to be, instead one can hear all different noises, clicks, rattles, swooshes from the mechanics … the sound of the piano is subdued, almost muffled. What a difference to, say, Craig Armstrong’s Piano Works with its crystal clear, electronically enhanced sound: compared to Corduroy Road, Piano Works seems piercing.
With all those muteness, with all those noises, Keith Kenniff, the man behind the handle Goldmund, creates a halo of warmth around his miniatures. A richness that is far away from bare. It’s as if one would sit with the back to the piano, very close, and lulled by its tender melodies slowly doze off.
To say it in Amazon lingo: if you liked Erik Satie’s Gymnopédies, then Corduroy Road might be worth a listen.
Julien Neto: Le fumeur du ciel
If you liked Brian Eno’s Music for Airports, then you should have a look at Julien Neto’s Le fumeur du ciel. More correctly, the record should be placed exactly in-between Deaf Center’s dramatic melancholy and Brian Eno’s distanced coolness.
Julien Neto clearly is more melodic Brian Eno, but isn’t trying to get the cinematic feel of Deaf Center. Yet, it’s not less haunting. An album for the deepest part of the night, were the music will hide in the darkest corners and linger there, slowly whispering. And even if the album is over, it will still be there, an echo, a stain#[bjork] …
Perfect for an extended period of melancholy and, as all those records, available online at Type Records. I don’t know who is leading this UK label — but he or she has really good taste …
[bjork]: Whoops. That’s Björk …