Aidan Baker "Green and Cold"

Aidan Baker's second release on the Gears of Sand label, now available at ping things!

Aidan Baker's release "Green and Cold" on the Gears of Sand label is another fine album from one of Canada's premier ambient artists. The disc is rich with a wide range of emotion and feeling, as well as an attention to sonic architecture on both a macro- and micro-level.

The untitled opening track builds on a looping guitar chord, a swell of sounds and tone growing up around it, small melodies and phrases taking shape on the border of the senses. As time progresses the track gains strength and shape, gaining greater complexity and depth along the way. Very impressive.

"Chainsaw" blends in seemlessly with the previous track, a space-y lo-fi post rock track with vocals that brings to mind smoky 70s basements and late nights. There's a slow and steady groove at work here, nothing to dance to but certainly something to make you bob your head, a chilled cool that appeals on multiple levels.

Track three "Merge" is a minimal vocal and guitar piece, a lead vocal quietly intoned over sparse guitar work while a second and third vocal can be faintly heard on opposite ends of the sound field. For such a minimal piece the track is actually quite spacious and I find myself wondering what mysteries and secrets are being shared during the tracks length.

The epic "Beautiful Beast" follows, opening with a richly layered track where vocals fade in and around a dense backdrop of sound. Around the four minute mark the track shifts direction leading into a spiralling wall of sound that grows and grows and grows some more, until such time as it's a huge wall of sound comprised of loops, patterns and droning tones. Aidan has always been an effective shaper of this sort of sound and he does so admirably here.

Title track "Green and Cold" returns to a more sparse sound, a nice break from the density of the last track which works well to emphasize the mood of the piece. There's a really raw feel to this track, a very lo-fi sound that adds considerably to the atmosphere created. A very effective track proving that sometimes less is more.

"Machina" follows, a more complex track instrumentally speaking, but still retaining the raw feeling of the prior track. Melody is more apparent here, phrases are warmer and more inviting and in some cases nearly overtake the vocal line. It's another fine post-rock track, another testimony to Aidan's fantastic songwriting skills.

The seventh track (another unnamed piece) mixes in with the last, a blend of drones and minimal melodic work that creeps along with such care and precision that the listener doesn't notice that everything has radically changed and morphed into the sound of a new, heavier work. Very nice

The eighth track (the last unnamed piece) follows, a swirling group of tones and drones, summing up the entire disc in a concise and effective manner. Sound rises and swells and then slowly fades out, until there is only one tone which drones for a minute or two before joining it's peers in that place where played notes go.

I've written many times about Aidan's talents, about the wonderful music he makes, the fantastic discs that he's released. I'm sure many of you have already gotten the point, that the man is a talent to be reckoned with. But for those of you that still need convincing, I would suggest picking up "Green and Cold". I don't think anything more need be said.

rik - ping things