Various Awakenings 2010 Volume 1 Play:    Mid-Fi   Hi-Fi (Excerpt from track 'Visitation to Overton Hill' by David Gurr) Please go to the Store to buy this item.

DCDR / 14 tracks / 153.56 mins

So we enter the sixth year of the Awakenings series and as usual we get a mix of tracks by relatively new acts as well as those by more established artists. As far as I can tell all the music here is unique to this album. Swirling sounds and wind blown percussion get Pete Tedstone’s ‘Meta’ underway. A gorgeous flute melody weaves its mystical spell over a subtle shuffling rhythm. A more forceful lead adds extra bight, almost like a call to arms. Mellotron imparts a little softness. A heavier sequence enters and the rhythm also cranks up a gear. A flashing lead adds to the excitement still further- great air keyboard track! Blue Lily Commission is a new one to me and even though there are many of the usual electronic music elements it also harks back to the Canterbury scene with a hint of Space Rock. It has more in common with the likes of Mooch (see later) than the more traditional approach of the opening act. Rene van der Wouden gives us ‘Les Reves Americains’. After a lovely dreamy start a sequence arrives, calving through the early morning mist. A second line of pulsations falls into formation with the first creating quite a hypnotic brew. Xan Alexander from The Omega Syndicate is in a laid back mood for ‘Through the Ruins’. Distorted birdsong mixes with flutey synth in a hazy sort of way. This is ideal music for just chilling out to on a warm summer’s day. Next up we have the first of two tracks by AEM. This is an act that first came to my notice through earlier Awakenings albums and has continued to develop ever since. ‘Landscapes: Holy Island’ sounds like it might be a bit New Age like but no fear; it is nothing of the kind. Initially it is dark brooding stuff until we get a soft lush section out of which slowly emerges a wonderful sequence. It stays just long enough to make an impact then we descend momentarily into atmospherics which act as a bridging section for an even better sequence than the first. It morphs nicely from one pattern to the next. Loads is crammed into just this one track so the attention is kept locked in throughout its duration. There always seems to be a sense of humour around the music of Mooch and ‘Garryland’ is no exception. Little melodic bleeps ring out over a sea of acid drenched swirls. We start disc two with the second track by AEM ‘Landscapes: Stac Poly’. It doesn’t take long to stoke up the Sequencer, as a couple of lines bound forward in fine fashion. There is a similar pattern here to his earlier track. Just as soon as one sequence has run its course another replaces it. This time there seems to be four distinct sections. David Hughes’ is joined by Hashtronaut (this guy seems to be turning up all over the place at the moment- very welcome too!) on his Ion project for a fine live version of ‘Mariner’. Little blissful guitar touches float over subtle percussion. A gorgeous melody hovers around it all like a gentle breeze. The guitar does snarl from time to time, adding just the right amount of angst but never over dominating. Rhythmic flourishes increase the excitement. What a superb version of an already excellent track. Paul Collins donates ‘Nebula Vision’. The fist couple of minutes are spent with some blissed out drift. A sequence then comes in, bubbling along nicely. Peter Challoner’s ‘Carried on the Wind’ has a rather warm, comforting, heat haze feel to it. A little melodic motif is looped to provide a feeling of movement. The prolific ‘Phrozenlight’ comes up with the sequence drenched ‘Ghosts Running Around’. All the pulsations weave round each other (there must be at least three separate lines) in a mesmerizing shifting barrage of notes. At around the half way mark things momentarily settle down to two sequences, a bass one and a higher register bouncy one, before returning to an ever changing state of flux as new note patterns come and go. Things become increasingly moody as we get closer to the end. Now we get a solo track, ‘Luftgesang Klavierstuck 78 Mix’, from Mooch man Stephen Palmer. Initially the main feature is a rapid looped piano melody though there is quite a complex backing of percussive effects. It’s all rather exciting but also hectic and exhausting. It’s the musical equivalent of trying to cross a road in a busy city during rush hour! Dave Gurr’s (also from The Omega Syndicate) ‘Visitation to Overton Hill’ is a huge surprise, as I haven’t really experienced this side of his work before. This is no stonking sequencer epic but instead a superbly crafted sensitive and quite emotional masterpiece. Initially it is full of very deep reverberating drones. Little tinkling sonic effects give things a rather cosmic feel. In the third minute the most gorgeous sighing melody strikes up, augmented by a heart-rending lead line. More delicate leads come and go as if answering each other. Beautiful and sublime, simple and profound. Impossible to do justice to in a review, it just has to be heard. The best track on the album. Entity wind things up with the charmingly titled ‘Plod’. Two distorted ringing tones do indeed sound like a slow plodding walk. There is an interesting combination of sonic textures here, I would imagine self-created. A moody guitar type lead hangs in the air like a brooding presence. A much more interesting track than I expected from the title. An excellent compilation. DL

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