Transmission 13 – The Great American
Disaster
DL
Out Now
‘Kaleidoscopio’, last years album
release by Transmission 13, brushed aside the ‘difficult second album’ tag with
ease, leaving Maurice Doogan free to then tackle his third album, ‘The Great
American Disaster’, and he’s only gone and done it again.
Eleven new tracks, each repeating
the quality now expected from Transmission 13 (no pressure for album 4!) and
continuing the sound which is quickly becoming recognisable. With slightly more ambient this time round,
the krautrock sound has been temporarily laid to rest in favour of soothing
tunes and soundscapes, that in several cases, are truly beautiful.
Opener, ‘Shimmering Substance’, is
gorgeousness personified. An ocean of
ebbing synth sounds that ripple around your sub-consciousness for quite some
time to come. Slowly building, but never completely taking over, the track
weaves its way from start to end before meeting up with ‘On Reflection’ where
the theme continues.
Where Transmission 13 succeeds is in
the simple way that the tracks are constructed.
We’re talking layers of sounds rather than multi sounds where nothing is
overfacing and everything sits perfectly.
All tracks are caringly put together and surely it’s only a matter of
time before you start hearing Maurice on your TV sets where you can witness his
tracks being put over images of natural beauty and/or outer space.
The title track is case in point of
the confidence in which these tracks are executed and laid down. Imagine if a shard diamond could sing – this
is what is would sound like. The
temptation to have a blockbuster, belt-and-braces track representing the album
is resisted, and, ‘The Great American Disaster’ is quite literally incidental
in the bigger scheme of things.
‘Bay Of Pigs’ sees the perfectly
placed newsreel soundbytes that are becoming almost characteristic, and, the
piano backing has the potential to become anthemic . Rarely has mention of George Bush and Richard
Nixon sounded so good!
There’s a true eeriness to ‘Objeccto
Volante de Identificado’ , where there is potential for percussion thunder interspersed
by newsreel voiceovers and some interesting effects. Probably, the most experimental Maurice has
yet been and another string to his bow.
Closer, ‘Warning Sign’, transmits
astronaut voices from space beside minimal piano and drone. An end to a fine album from a very talented
artist.
Great album cover too.
8.5/10
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