Ramp Debris Play:    Mid-Fi   Hi-Fi (Excerpt from track 'Skeletal')

CD / 12 tracks / 74.46 mins

There are four main tracks each with three sections. The first part of ‘Skeletal’ starts with the most wonderful spaced out windy drones. A sequence and loop start to form but only really establish themselves as we enter the second part. Even so they are initially rather restrained but ominous. A much deeper bass sequence surges forward, retreats, then keeps returning is waves of brooding menace. Sometimes it reaches enormous proportion, growling its displeasure. We return to cosmic colouring for the third part. The opening part of the title track uses a melodic fizzing loop as the main focus while other sounds and effects create images in the mind. Yet another ball breaking sequence emerges. A second higher register sequence skips over the top, little percussives joining in the fun. The various individual elements weave around each other, changing in intensity and ever shifting, creating quite a mesmerizing effect. ‘Bomber Harris’ initially takes us back to the windy atmospherics and then we follow a similar pattern of slow but heavy sequences arriving then ebbing and flowing. This time, in the second part, we get some excellent mellotron lead lines. Fizzing solar flares add to the excitement. Things become quite ethereal for the concluding section. ‘Skeletons’ gets into the deep bass sequencing even earlier than the previous tracks. Percussive rhythms act like steam hissing from the pulsations while little looped melodies slowly rise then fall through the mix. We then get a lovely section where things are stripped back, each element making its own very subtle cameo. The big mother of all sequences soon returns however, scattering all before it as it follows its own devastating path. Things become rather moody once more as we enter the middle section of ‘picture music’, all very descriptive bringing up various images in the mind. The sequence does make a last flourish before we enter the final part of the final track which has a much warmer heat haze feel finishing this moody, often aggressive, album peacefully. (DL)

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