STYLE...... Ambient, Modern Classical
LABEL..... Home Normal REL.DATE... 28.01.2010
COUNTRY... US
Konntinet
is the moniker adopted by Anthony Harrison, previously seen on labels
like Symbolic Interaction and Dynamophone Records. This Home Normal
release is surely his highest profile work to date however, notably
aided by a Taylor Deupree mastering job. In fact, much of the material
on Opal Island wouldn't sound too out of place on 12k, although the
release strays beyond the parameters of archetypal microsound-based
material when Harrison's guitar gets involved. In these moments the
album shifts over into a more post-rock styled mode that's perhaps
comparable to some of Mark Nelson's Pan American material (listen to
the delicate, downbeat tones of 'Frost Fair', for instance). Glitchy
micro-rhythms add plenty of texture and rhythmic presence to Harrison's
processed ambiences - something that works especially well during 'Dry
Eyed', featuring singer Lisa Madisson. Guitars and vocals are sliced
into with a digital scalpel, leaving what sounds a little like a
chewed-up and dissolved version of a Beth Orton song. Full-blooded
beats make an appearance on the record too, with '44 55 33' offering a
kick drum backbone while various treated field recordings and blurry
guitars slide around in a bath of reverb. For the most part though, any
rhythmic elements are confined to irregular loop structures, or
occasionally, surges in amp hiss that have been sculpted into
percussion, and the record tends to function on a fairly abstract level
- albeit one that retains a sense of song-craft and comes with a heavy
dose of atmospheric wistfulness.
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