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"We All Fall Down" is only $13.00CAN plus taxes and shipping! |
The Circular Ruins and Off the Sky "We All Fall Down"
As any fan of Reese's Peanut Butter
Cups will tell you, sometimes an unlikely combination will yield wonderful
results. And one can't help but think about Reese's Peanut Butter Cups
when one considers "We All Fall Down", a collaborative release
by Anthony Paul Kerby of The Circular Ruins, and Jason Corder of Off the
Sky. Kerby is well known for lush and full environments of sound, while
Corder is more glitchy and abrupt in his approach. Stylistically
those don't seem like very compatible sounds, but in the hands of such
talented artists as these, it proves to be very successful.
"We All Fall Down" is an absolutely fabulous release that brings
together two very distinct talents to create something new and
beautiful.
"5000 Visions" opens the disc with vaguely glitchy, irregular snatches
and bursts of sound overtop a steadily building pad. It's the sound of
many voices and it sets the tone well for what is to follow.
Track two, "Your Unknown Hand", has a very fluid feeling to it,
hydraulic tones intertwining through eachother, swirling around in a
bubbling cauldron of sound. This is the sort of beauty that I associate
with more glitchy musical forms, a chilled robotic music that is shiny
and brilliant.
Throughout "This Final Place" a quivering melody blends in with a
variety of processed sounds and tones, rising and falling patterns of
noise and steam. Are those voices in the distance? It's too hard to tell...
The title track "We All Fall Down" has an air of largeness, a feeling of
size and drama, a soundtrack to the biggest Hollywood epics all put
together in a blender to create an appealing smoothie of sound. Tones
drift through, rising to the surface and falling, and it's all quite
beautiful.
"Giving to you" has snippets and elements of lounging and lazing chill,
the suggestion of coolsville before jeteeing back to the known. A single
beat here, a bass pulse there, it all reminds me of the best
clubs in town if only for a second. By contrast it leads directly into
"Hide and Seek", with choked sounds rising and falling through the ether
to be stifled and brought down again. It's quite a contrast, but it works
well in this case, a testimony to the talents of the artists involved.
Track seven, "Running After Rainbows", is a pulse driven piece that swirls and echoes
around itself, percolating and shimmering, very nice. In a similar vein,
"Through Solid Shadows" is a space-y synth driven piece, with irregular bell
tones and steam sounds mingling with voices and sounds overtop a
steadily evolving series of pads.
"Burn For Those Who Are Silent" features a series of melodically used
pads, metallic sounds shining and sweeping throughout. About halfway through
a horn flourish breaks the stillness, creating a sense of drama and
movement. It's a moving track, very emotional.
"Some Final Things" returns us to space, the sound of static and lost
radio transmissions. Tones vibrate throughout and there's a very lonely
drift, the sound of isolation and lonelieness. It's kind of tragic in
it's beauty, the sound of lonely moons and other satellites orbiting dead
worlds and lost dreams...
"And then I remember" follows with sound rising up from the waves, climbing up
through memory and thought towards the clarity of the tangible. A
pneumatic pulse gains clarity and a pad sails around the soundfield. A
wonderful blend of sounds and ideas in this one.
"Unlike Any Other" returns to a more glitchy approach to the disc, bringing
us round full circle to the beginning again. A blend of the irregular and
the beautiful, pulsing and humming and padding and sweeping.
"Lasting Impression" closes the disc, a summation of ideas, a final conclusion
to a musical essay. It's an interesting mixture of sounds, an appealing closer.
Glitch and ambience and rising tones and more, very impressive and a succinct
summary of everything that has gone before on the disc.
Clearly "We All Fall Down" is a very strong release by two very distinct
voices who have blended together to form a powerful new voice.
The Circular Ruins and Off the Sky are an inspired collaboration and
a pairing that works on a number of levels, much like peanut butter and
chocolate. And much like Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, when the disc is
over I want to hear more. I very much hope that this is the first of many
collaborations between Kerby and Corder. And in the meantime I will
savour the greatness of this release.
rik - ping things
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last updated 05/22/11
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