Category Archives: Switched On

Switched On – Romare: Fantasy (You See)

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Reviewed by Ben Hogwood

What’s the story?

After a number of album releases for Ninja Tune (Projections, Love Songs: Part Two and Home), Romare sets sail on his own label You See. Here he delivers a new 8-track album, bringing more of his own instrumentation and vocals to the fore alongside previously honed sampling techniques. On Fantasy, Romare (real name Archie Fairhurst) is able to also bring in audio clips from 1970s fantasy cinema, which proved a lasting inspiration during lockdown.

Fairhurst also cites a love of the band Gryphon and the influence of Medieval music on the album.

What’s the music like?

Playful and affectionate, though not afraid to get down and dirty when it wants to. The influence of Medieval music is most evident in its touching simplicity, while on other occasions Romare’s music is a lot more layered, with plenty going on.

Priestless chugs along with displaced voices, brassy undertones and fun riffing, its direction never easy to trace. Dungeon and the excellent Seventh Seal are more beat driven too, the latter exploring suspended synths which are initially hazy but then let loose in thrilling fashion. Sunset is energetic and quite playful, too.

At the other end of the beat spectrum sits the blissful Walking In The Rain, an easy and effortless stroll where the rhythm track and vocal – perfect for this month’s British weather! – go hand in hand. Closing track The Fool taps into a similar vibe, showing how easily Romare can switch between intense sample-based workouts and pieces of music that take us outside for a breather.

Does it all work?

It does. There are no particular rules to Fantasy, which make the resultant music all the more winsome. Fairhurst’s blend of carefree structure and more careful, studied looping works really well.

Is it recommended?

It is. Previous albums showed Romare to be imaginative and creative in rhythm and sound – Fantasy builds on that and shows he is progressing to be a producer of some repute.

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On Record: Set Fire To Flames – Sings Reign Rebuilder (21st anniversary reissue) (130701)

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by Ben Hogwood

What’s the story?

The collective Set Fire To Flames were destined to release just two albums – but their debut Sings Reign Rebuilder has developed something of a cult following since its release in 2001. In the UK it was released on the Fat Cat imprint 130701 as its first ever release, the reason the whole label was begun – and it sold out within weeks. 21 years later it returns in the form of a remaster, reissued on a heavyweight black vinyl double LP.

Set Fire To Flames were a 14-piece collective set up in Montreal, with links to all manner of post rock or experimental outfits, including Godspeed You! Black Emperor, A Silver Mt Zion, Exhaust, Fly Pan Am and Hangedup. Godspeed’s guitarist David Bryant was effectively the group supervisor, establishing the membership and taking ownership of the recording, which took place in one heavily concentrated improvisation session.

For five days in an old Montreal house, the newly assembled band explored making music in one confined space, in various states of sleep deprivation and intoxication. The many hours resulting from the sessions were heavily edited, with Sings Reign Rebuilder the result.

What’s the music like?

In a word, uneasy! Yet that would be to throw away the obvious amount of effort that went into both the recording and editing processes.

Despite the name of the collective, Sings Reign Rebuilder is seriously dark and often mournful music. It does however have an intensity that is rare in instrumental music, the strength of feeling you would associate with classical music from the likes of Penderecki or Gorecki – even though this is improvised music from Montreal.

The band’s use of stringed instruments is especially gripping. Omaha… begins as a sorrowful duet, while the towering slow burner that is Shit-Heap-Gloria Of The New Town Planning… has a very steady build that culminates with the oscillation of two violins in a dark duet. There is also intense cello interplay on Two Tears In A Bucket.

Elsewhere the outlook tends to be rooted in noise – and a good deal of that is unsettling, with scratchy effects not too far removed from nails down a blackboard, or traffic-based noises that have a more mechanical basis. Vienna Arcweld… behaves like an instrument that refuses to function fully, with a sawing motion in the treble register, while Cote D’Abrahams Room Tone starts with what sounds like roadworks – and yet somehow possesses an ambience of the everyday. Injur: Gutted Two-Track also fidgets with extraneous noise.

Vocals are rare, though those used on Wild Dogs Of The Thunderbolt draw the listener in.

Does it all work?

It does – but the unremitting intensity and darkly shaded processes mean that this is not music for all seasons or moods. When it crackles into life, though, the music of Set Fire To Flames is hypnotic and magnificently brooding with its drones and subtle melodic interplay.

Is it recommended?

It is, as a highly effective project with compelling musical results. In remastered form, Sings Reign Rebuilder is even more gripping than it was in 2001.

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Switched On – Lomond Campbell: Under The Hunger Moon We Fell (One Little Independent)

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Reviewed by Ben Hogwood

What’s the story?

The third instalment of Lomond Campbell’s experiments with music based on tape loops is a primal affair. While he was nearing completion of the album there was a dramatic Supermoon phenomenon known as a Hunger Moon, which occurs at the end of winter when predators are at their most desperate.

For his source material Campbell took 140 tape loops, stacked up on top of each other, and gradually whittled them down until, as the press release says, ‘the bare bones of something musical started to show itself’ on each track. The three-part project of music based on tape loops has its origins in a request from King Creosote, who was looking for a custom tape looping machine. Campbell obliged – but in the process created a musical instrument he wanted to get to know.

What’s the music like?

Moody and rather magnificent.

The title and recording process explain the album’s extremes of emotions, from intense and sudden soul searching to unexpected tenderness – but make no mistake, this is not a record that drifts complacently through the middle.

There is often an exploratory feel to this music, from the way a lone synthesizer line winds its way up through the misty textures of Bastard Wing, and the way the violin dominates Phonon For No One, with a busy drum track rather like the steady thrum of horses’ hooves underneath. Yet there is stillness too, best heard through the tolling piano that begins Leave Only Love Behind, an atmospheric tale.

We hear Lomond Campbell the vocalist for the first time, on For The Uncarved – a striking set of timbres providing the backing for his heavily manipulated but distinctive voice, which is eventually swamped by a rush of white noise.

Often the elements are close at hand, such as on the wide open and windswept track The Mountain And The Pendulum, a panorama with vivid outlines and a sweeping backdrop. It is another demonstration of how good Campbell is at setting the scene and allowing the climate to take over.

Does it all work?

Yes. Though often darkly tinged, this is a compelling piece of work – and compressed, too, the seven tracks weighing in at little more than .dfgd

Is it recommended?

Very much so. It will have you – as it did me – working back through Lomond Campbell’s impressive discography to check if there is anything that hasn’t been missed. Highly recommended, both as a trilogy and as this single, searching element.

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Switched On – Dorian Concept: What We Do For Others (Brainfeeder)

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Reviewed by Ben Hogwood

What’s the story?

Vienna-based artist Dorian Concept – aka Oliver Johnson – releases his third album through the Ninja Tune family. This one celebrates a less calculated way of working – which is not to mean it is careless, but that Johnson has decided to apply less of an editing process to the results.

What’s the music like?

Colourful and often invigorating. Tracks such as the cheery You’re Untouchable and Friends show Johnson’s prowess as a beat maker, and his instinctive way of working that comes from jazz.

The influences on the record are refreshingly far-reaching, and mean that pigeon holes for Dorian Concept’s music are more or less cast aside. The Other has an Eastern feel, while Let It All Go, Survival Instinct and Turn Away are musical workshops, clicking and whirring their way into life with a host of playful riffs. In these communal moments Johnson’s music recalls another, much earlier Ninja act, the collective Homelife.

On the other hand Johnson has a talent for setting a more reserved and evocative atmosphere, which he does in the nocturnal Fever.

Does it all work?

It does. Johnson’s music has a fresh, instinctive feel about it, as though the paint on his artworks has only just dried.

Is it recommended?

Yes. What We Do For Others is a celebration of creativity, and its many layers reveal something new with each listen.

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On Record – Julian Brink: Utility Music (Sono Luminus)

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Reviewed by Ben Hogwood

What’s the story?

Johannesburg composer Julian Brink initially conceived Utility Music as part of a film score. The film was unfinished, but he revisited the music during the pandemic in 2020, moulding it into a standalone album. The recording took place remotely around the world, with contributions from musicians in Los Angeles, New York, London, Frankfurt and Hamburg, not to mention the composer’s bedroom at his apartment in Hollywood.

The title reflects the German phrase ‘gebrauchsmusik’ – music written for a specific event or purpose – as well as a reflection of how the recording came about. The influence of John Cage is clear, too, in the more experimental aspects of the music and its germination.

What’s the music like?

Easy on the ear – but never too easy. Brink often works from the approach that less is more, and it serves him extremely well, for Utility Music has an intimate, conversational approach that instinctively draws the listener closer and communicates directly.

The quality of his instrumentalists is a clear asset, too – and they all deserve a name check. The core are three string players, Moldovan violinist Dan-Iulian Druțac, violist Nick Revel (of the PUBLIQ Quartet), and cellist Joe Zeitlin. They are complemented by woodwind (Matt Demerritt), clarinet (Tyler Neidermayer), horn (Meredith Moore), trumpet (Joe Auckland), brass (Juliane Gralle), harp (Hanna Rabe), percussion (Max Gaertner) and bass (Gabe Noel).

Colombo/Green Fingers shows a little of the influence of Steve Reich, but Miniatures is where you sense Brink’s individual voice is louder, a mechanism slowly turning with clicks and whirs against coloristic effects from the strings. Simple Trio is an intimate aside, while Eventually Lapse has watery textures over which a violin sings and calls. Eastwood no.4, meanwhile, is especially descriptive, attractively scored for harp, percussion, viola and cello – while the final Pattern Shells, for mixed quartet, is attractively shaded.

Does it all work?

It does indeed – and if you need further proof, watch this ‘reaction’ video from viola player Nick Revel:

Is it recommended?

Yes – very much so. There are some intriguing and descriptive sound worlds awaiting listeners here, but also intimate and personal asides that speak with a calm but probing intensity.

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To hear clips and explore buying options, you can view this release on the Sono Luminus website