Mary
Lattimore And Jeff Zeigler – Slant Of Light (Thrill Jockey)
LP/CD/DL
Out Now
Harpist and
multi-instrumentalist pair up for their debut album together.
If Slant Of
Light is an improvised piece of work, then Mary Lattimore and Jeff Zeigler have
an incredible understanding of each other’s work.
Lattimore, a
renowned and sought after classically trained harpist (Nick Cave and Jarvis
Cocker have worked with her) has a wonderful talent on one of the most
beautiful instruments in the World. Her
timing and presentation is second to none, her skill is unquestionable. Zeigler, part time member of Arc In A Round
and multi-instrumentalist is one of the most sought after engineers of the moment
(see Kurt Vile and War On Drugs). Together
they make beautiful music.
Slant Of
Light was recorded in Philadelphia earlier this year and contains four
mesmerising tracks. Opener, Welsh Corgis
In The Snow is nothing short of beautiful.
The synergy between Mary’s harp and Jeff’s ambient tones is amazing and
their understanding of each other is quite something. The emptiness is chilling and the wide
expanse of near nothingness conjures up picturesque imagery. A Harp is just made for this kind of thing.
Following on
with The White Balloon, Zeigler contributes a layered acoustic guitar which
repeats and rises over the background of the most delicate of harp sounds. The swirling synths create another gorgeous
backdrop and to say the track is relaxing is a deep understatement.
The third
and penultimate track, Echo Sounder focuses initially on a drone/ambient intro
which is lightly speckled by harp. The
continual tone of synth allows Mary to effectively improvise freely without any
constraints and the pairing is allowed to work even when bizarre synth effects
are randomly thrown into the mix.
Unfortunately,
the fourth and final track of the album, Tomorrow Is A Million Years is far
more abstract and improvised to the point of having very little meaning or
cohesion. Maybe some would call it avant
garde, others pure experimentalism, but what it really is is two artists
sounding (ironically) a million years apart.
It’s maybe a shame, as three quarters of Slant Of Light is sheer beauty,
but it doesn’t stop the album being something quite special.
8/10
Links
Published on Louder On War 12/10/14 - here
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