Switched On – Loscil: Lake Fire (Kranky)

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by Ben Hogwood

What’s the story?

Loscil’s music has always spoken vividly of its surroundings, bringing the wide-open panoramas of Vancouver and British Columbia to vivid life on even the smallest sound system. Here, Scott Morgan’s alias brings sonic despatches from the front line with a striking account and observation of the recent wildfires in the region.

What’s the music like?

As dark and thick as the clouds of smoke that were hanging over British Columbia when this album was made. Ash Clouds is the most explicit expression of the darkness that developed, with a deep chord that barely moves, hanging over the ground.

That isn’t to say that Lake Fire is depressing, mind, as there are shards of bright colour that draw the attention in spite of the thick, uneasy ambience behind. This is evident in the closing of Spark, where dark chords, low in the spectrum, are at odds with brighter chimes at the top, suggesting light peeking through the clouds.

There are some incredibly deep textures on Arrhythmia. Bell Flame flickers, with sonorities similar to a pipe organ in the treble but again with thick, almost oppressive drones beneath. Candling has an improvisatory feel, melodies rising out of the mists like peaks of a flame before subsiding again. Most moving of all is the closing title track, barely audible at first as it steals in on a breath of wind but soon growing in power, the dense cloud sweeping all before it – before retreating and fizzling out as soon as it began.

Does it all work?

It does – and in the process offers an affecting counterpart to the clarity of albums like Sea Island.

Is it recommended?

It is. If you take in the album with its accompanying images and video content, Lake Fire is an intensely moving experience, a tale of man-made and enabled destruction that is truly heart-rending. And yet within the depths of this music there is still some elemental hope, and that shines through in Loscil’s remarkable music.

For fans of… Tim Hecker, Stars of the Lid, Machinefabriek, Fennesz

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Published post no.2,540 – Wednesday 21 May 2025

New music – Vanessa Wagner: Philip Glass – Étude no.14 (InFiné)

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by Ben Hogwood, edited from the press release

Vanessa Wagner has today revealed the next instalment of her forthcoming album release of Philip Glass Etudes, due for release on 13 July from the InFiné label.

“After more than thirty years spent playing, interpreting, and working on the great repertoire, Philip Glass’s music has, in a way, almost revolutionized my life as a musician,” confides Vanessa Wagner.

The label describe how “in Etude no.14, so often filed away as a mere “transitional” study, Wagner uncovers a central engine of Glass’s language: the art of turning motif into living gesture, pattern into emotion, structure into an open-ended form.”

Published post no.2,538 – Tuesday 20 May 2025

New music – North Sea Radio Orchestra: All Alice Lake (Believer’s Roast)

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by Ben Hogwood, adapted from the press release

The North Sea Radio Orchestra have announced a new album, Special Powers, to be released on Believer’s Roast on 30 May 2025. This is prefaced by a new single, All Alice Lake, described as “Craig’s attempt at a country waltz (perhaps the most ‘straight-ahead’ song he’s ever written), with string countermelodies and Chantelle’s voice to the fore.”

Summarising their career to date, the press release tells the story of how, “Way back in 2002 North Sea Radio Orchestra (NSRO) began rehearsing and performing in old churches, secreted away in the heart of the City Of London. At first their audience had to explore the lost alleys and lanes of old Londinium to hear their sounds. NSRO then moved out into the world at large; performing in venues diverse – from churches to clubs to Freakzone sessions to festivals, opera houses, libraries etc etc. NSRO are very much a part of the ‘Cardiacs Family’ of bands and musicians; having personal and stylistic ties (harmonically and melodically) to Cardiacs and the music of the late Tim Smith generally; other bands in the ‘scene’ include Gong (and Kavus Torabi), Lost Crowns, William D Drake, Spratleys, Crayola Lectern etc.”

Special Powers is their fifth studio album and as ever, all material is written and produced by band leader Craig Fortnam.

Published post no.2,537 – Monday 19 May 2025

On Record – English Symphony Orchestra / Kenneth Woods: Elgar Festival Live – Symphony no.1 & In The South (ESO Records)

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Elgar
Symphony no.1 in A flat major Op.55 (1907-08)
In the South (Alassio) Op.50 (1903-04)

English Symphony Orchestra / Kenneth Woods

ESO Records ESO2501 (80’10″]
Producer and Engineer Tim Burton

Live performances at Worcester Cathedral on 4 June 2022 (In The South) and 3 June 2023 (Symphony)

Reviewed by Richard Whitehouse

What’s the story?

There could hardly been a more fitting release to launch the English Symphony Orchestra’s own label than these performances drawn from past editions of the Elgar Festival, with both of them a reminder of the ESO’s formidable prowess over the range of symphonic writing.

What are the performances like?

The First Symphony may not have the usual number of strings to complement its triple wind, but due to the resonance of Worcester Cathedral this is not evident as regards internal balance. Not least in an opening movement whose motto-theme is never indulgent, setting the tone for an Allegro where expressive variety goes hand in hand with formal focus. Especially fine is a hushed transition into the reprise, then a coda that distils the equivocal mood as this subsides into ruminative calm. Woods is mindful to invest scherzo and trio with consistency of pulse, so if the former feels reined in on return, the latter has an ideal poise and wistfulness. Nor is the transition other than indicative of the Adagio’s profundity, Woods negotiating its soulful main theme and wistful episodes with unerring rightness through to the ineffable closing bars.

If the finale has any marginal falling-off of inspiration, it is not apparent here. Sombre if shot through with expectancy, its introduction launches an Allegro whose alternating incisiveness and suavity holds good over an impulsive development, then a transformation of the codetta whose pathos intensifies for an apotheosis where the motto-theme carries all before it. Not that the closing pages are bombastic or grandiloquent in import – rather, they set the seal on a work whose affirmation is made the greater for its having been so purposefully attained.

As for In the South, the main issue is in setting a tempo flexible enough to accommodate this concert overture’s extended sonata design without it becoming episodic. Here a surging main theme, its speculative transition and suave second theme emerge seamlessly – the underlying tension carried into a development whose impulsiveness is maintained across the intervening first episode. Amply evoking the grandeur of ‘empires past’, this is astutely handled such that its implacability eschews bathos. If the second ‘canto populare’ episode is just a little reticent, its expressive raptness – and Carl Hill’s eloquent playing of its indelible viola melody – more than compensates. Nor is there any loss of continuity during the reprise, Woods’s building of momentum near the start of the coda ensuring an irresistible yet never overbearing peroration.

Does it all work?

Almost always. ESO concerts at the Elgar Festival have yielded numerous performances of note, with In the South among the finest yet in vindicating a work that can all too easily fall victim to its seeming indulgencies. Nor is that of the First Symphony far behind in revealing the formal intricacy and expressive variety of music as personal as is any of this composer’s major works. Anyone who may have harboured doubts about either piece is likely to be won over, confirming an empathy as augers well for the Second Symphony at this year’s festival.

Is it recommended?

Absolutely. These readings are far more than mementos of their concerts, this being ‘Volume 1’ suggests that further performances from the Elgar Festival will be made available. Note too the first instalment of a Sibelius cycle is downloadable as the second release on ESO Records.

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You can read more about this release and explore purchase options at the ESO website Click to read more about the English Symphony Orchestra, conductor Kenneth Woods and the Elgar Festival 2025

Published post no.2,536 – Sunday 18 May 2025

Switched On – AVAWAVES: Heartbeat (One Little Independent)

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by Ben Hogwood

What’s the story?

This is the third album from the duo of Anna Phoebe and Aisling Brouwer, who have recently bolstered their reputation in soundtrack scores for Savage Waters and The Buccaneers.

They describe their first album since 2021 as “peeling back all the layers we cloak ourselves in until there is nothing left but the source, and discovering the strength that resides there. We wanted this album to feel raw, honest, and intuitive. There are themes of resilience, determination, grit, and an optimism in forever chasing the dawn after dark. It’s the bursting of bubbles and realising how much lighter everything feels without them.”

The single-word track titles are clues to the directness of expression the pair use, and on occasion the pair are complemented by vocalist Imogen Williams.

What’s the music like?

There is a freshness to AVAWAVES that is immediately felt on headphones, which indicates their wish to peel back the layers is an immediate success. The listener is led into wide open spaces, set down and allowed to enjoy the fresh musical air, free of any pretence or expectation.

The title track is purely and deeply felt, Phoebe’s violin played without vibrato and supported by calming piano – and it sets the tone for a purity running throughout the album. Mood secures a range of colours through its imaginative scoring. The violin uses pizzicato, double stopping and subtle inflections to the phrasing, while the doleful piano line is complemented by fuzzy electronics and a solid, quick moving beat. It is, as the pair say, the soundtrack to an imaginary film of the listener’s choosing.

Escape and Raindrop have strong Celtic flavours, the former given a winsome violin line and the latter soft vocals and a free spirit. Crush is synth-based and quite trancey, while Rumour brings the piano forward, its textures mottled and weather-beaten. Sleep Tight is a consoling song, the only one on the album, and is beautifully sung.

Does it all work?

It does. The music builds up in layers but never gets too much – or too cheesy. When used, the beats are especially good, as in the evocative Nightdrive.

Is it recommended?

It is. Heartbeat is an appropriate title for the album, as AVAWAVES make music from the heart, notable for the purity of its expression. Emotional and evocative, it is a rather wonderful listen.

For fans of… Erland Cooper, Ólafur Arnalds, Hauschka, Max Richter

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Published post no.2,535 – Saturday 17 May 2025