“This is another nice ambient gem out of the Spotted Peccary landscapes”
1 The Wind has Called 8:21 2 Every Memory 6:45 3 From Where we Are 5:15 4 State of Being 7:29 5 Farther Worlds 9:35 6 The Elements Melt 5:51 7 Here is Life 6:22 8 An Infinite Home 12:34 Spotted Peccary | SPM-9084 (CD/DDL 62:19) (V.F.) (Esoteric ambient soundscapes)
Intense! Moments of intense ambiences. It's the most precise qualifier that comes in mind to describe the universe of soundscapes which flow out between our ears with A PLACE TO BELONG. Defying the parameters of serenity which poured out into A Dimension Reflected, released in 2011, Phillip Wilkerson and Jourdan Laik modulates this time a work, always so ambient, propelled by superb surges of intensity which try to prove that the rhythms can be born as much from the push of winds and of its elements as by the sequences and the percussions, set apart the brief pulsations which clone the small passive rhythm of The Wind has Called. This second opus of Time Being is a real one story of atmospheres with a backdrop stigmatized by the noises of a nature imagined by our senses where the shadows of the quiet rhythms, these moments of implosion which define the character of this album, rumble beneath a nice meshing of drones and synth larva which float slowly like those long and elegant flights of pterodactyls or yet like the slow wrapping from the rollings of the celestial waves and of their singing prisms. The approach is very American esoteric with influences of Steve Roach and Robert Rich as well as a hint of Mystified for the noises of nature.
Some menacing winds buzz and perturb the quietude of the carillons which tinkle with a sensation of panic in their sonic glimmerings. From its first seconds, The Wind has Called spreads all the amplitude of the ambient spaces of A PLACE TO BELONG. The hummings sound like industrial explosions of which the threat is amplified by the military drones which sound so much like these warning sirens of disaster. And nevertheless, the calmness will assail our ears with an azure wind which shares its sound drizzle on the curves of synth lines full of remorse. The paradoxes which encircle this 2nd collaboration of Time Being are in the heart of the charms of that album. The winds transport their thick clouds of prisms while the synths harmonize their sonic horizons with the bipolarity of Phillip Wilkerson's breaths and hummings. We even hear onset of rhythms which will challenge the moments of ecstasy as here, around the 7th minute. Every Memory hangs onto the finale of The Wind has Called, the eight tracks are linked into an immense mosaic of atmospheres, with a mass synth lines filled of brilliant colors which defy the threat of winds and of which the hummings will never pierce its wall of serenity. The sound image depicts some waves of cosmic water which roll on the vestiges of an arid ground. This strange fusion of the secant strengths weaves an intense soundscape where the drama is hiding in every denouement; passive or stormy. Like here, where these contrasts wrap the delicacy of a piano which scatter its pensive notes in the din, fading in and fading out, of a delicious concert of crickets which in the end are being discreet in face of this threat dressed in sibylline charms. The atmospheres of State of Being transports us towards another level. We are a little like some souls lost in a cave where the mooing and the iridescent chants of the winds are buzzing like immense singings separated by the passages and the faces of the caves. Intense that I told you from the beginning! And I would also add, dark! Somber and charmingly seducing.
A PLACE TO BELONG is a perpetual fight between the tenebrous and dark Phillip Wilkerson's windy rustles against the delicate harmonious envelopes forged in the celestial prisms of Jourdan Laik's synths. Just as much meditative and introspective but astonishingly brilliant, Farther Worlds offers a different sound pallet. Here the crickets are replaced by the effect of radiance of the cosmic waves which roll over the ringing of carillons as much pensive as the piano notes. The title ends with a beautiful effect of intensity, weaving a slight duel between tragedy and esoteric romance. The Elements Melt is feeding of the same elements, this same fight of contrasts than on The Wind has Called, while that Here is Life is definitively the most seraphic track of A PLACE TO BELONG. The slow larvas from the synth are flowing here with the fury of engulf a sonic fauna filled of multiple jingles. It results from it a very beautiful relaxing piece of music. The ambient noises which mark out the structures of this 2nd opus of Time Being are even more alive and more sparkling An Infinite Home. This long track which leans on ashes of Here is Life. but with more time to exploit the celestial harmonies of the synth lines, concludes an album which is a nice little sound delight for those who like the genre. Another nice ambient gem out of the Spotted Peccary landscapes.
Sylvain Lupari (September 3rd, 2015) *****
Available at Spotted Peccary Music