Irrespective of the number of scientific theories that exist to explain how music works, how it affects us and its very reason for being; there is music outside the religious realm: a music that searches for deep spiritual and emotional connectivity. Within all that is the deconstruction of music by philosophers and critics alike – though, clearly, neither profession is linked by interest.
Recorded by Emeralds’s John Elliott in 2007, originally released on cassette in 2008, and now re-released on extremely limited vinyl, Imaginary Softwoods is a concatenation of amorphous, atonal and arrhythmic pieces of ambient drone that shift from metallic dissonance through to soft analogue idling. Perhaps the least convincing description to buy (or even to seek to listen to) any record, yet Imaginary Softwoods has the potential to expose its listener to the wonders of musical implication and emotional awaking.
Each of the twelve pieces are untitled, thus offering opportunity to interact with the music on strict, individual terms. Perhaps best categorised as fine art, the energy and subtle movement contained within is entirely self-sufficient: never requiring a response to anything other than what each systematic mechanical noise has already called for. With a limited range of instrumentation (analogue synth, some warped, barely discernible guitar), there is nothing here for the casual listener with little time to invest; but for those with inclination, vision and imagination, there are plenty of real and fabricated rewards to be found here.
The tracks bifurcate into a chiming sense of euphoria – one that hurtles through rusted pipes – and a minimal, less noisome (yet equally introspective) theme, where soft minor thirds shift to augmented fourths and diminished fifths with all the speed and beauty of a glacier. Because this occasionally abrupt album of mysterious groaning and warm nostalgic shimmering opulence has no immediately determinable reference, Imaginary Softwoods will live long within the bodies of those that wish to imbibe its pure and natural harmonic qualities.
An album to love for personal reasons, and not simply because obvious musical rule dictates.
Buy the album on Boomkat
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Lovely stuff Ash. Will have to check this out.
Yeah, do, Matt. I really dig it.
I’m not sure that’s the cover, though… John’s created four or five variations of the same cover and stuck them on to the records himself. They look a bit like this – http://www.digitalisindustries.com/images/IS3.jpg
Limited to 150 copies. I’ve got one. Ash has one. Good luck!
The tracks bifurcate into a chiming sense of euphoria – one that hurtles through rusted pipes – and a minimal,.