This album feels like a soundtrack to a photographer’s day out in late summer or early autumn, capturing Sheffield at its brutalist best.
TBD’s most subdued and ambient work to date
To put The Black Dog in context for me, I’m a long time fan, and have this already pre-ordered. I discovered them through a wonderful friend now living in Australia. I wonder what new gems this purveyor of fine, diverse and beautiful music has been discovering on the other side of the globe! Earth to Conor, this is Jason calling, come in Mr O’Dea!
Bytes, Parallel, and Spanners were all new exciting discoveries back in the early 90’s, I was coming from an industrial, synthwave, indie and no-wave background. These seminal releases helped prepare me for the world of electronica that was still starting to explode. When Ed and Andy went off to form Plaid, I was initially upset, and felt that such a great partnership between the three should not have been interrupted. That was until I heard the new Plaid material, which I love, and continue to do so. If you haven’t heard it yet, I highly recommend checking out the Stem Sell double CD or picture disc vinyl, both released earlier this year by Touched.
Post Plaid I became an avid fan and supporter of The Black Dog 2.0 with Ken Downie being joined by Martin Dust and Richard Dust. I was initially skeptical of a new line up (under the old Black Dog moniker) as it felt like it might detract from the original releases. Happily I was very wrong. These three men have carved out their own groove and become, for me, a much loved source of musical happiness.
So I’ve managed to give this a few listens since acquiring it in advance of its official release date. This release is definitely TBD’s most subdued and ambient work to date. They’re definitely forging a new face of their output here. At times tracks on here feel like they could have been released on labels like Past Inside The Present (US), Archives or Faint (Spain), or even A Strangely Isolated Place—being more drones and tones. Whilst I appreciate all of those labels, I am glad that this album is not focused on purely that. There are some nicely developed melodies at play across tracks here, with hints and flavors coming through from past masters like Brian Eno (Music for Airports), Aphex Twin (Selected Ambient Works II), Lucky & Easy (Blo Sum), Warmth (Agustín Mena), Purl (Ludvig Cimbrelius) to some darker elements towards Lustmord.
This album feels like a soundtrack to a photographer’s day out in late summer or early autumn, capturing Sheffield at its brutalist best.
Beats appear but only on rare occasions within this meaty and full sounding ambient journey. About 4 or 5 tracks out of 15 are more rhythmic. None of them get to full on 4/4, and this helps set this release apart from other TBD albums and more recent EP’s. With the three Dubs (Volume 1-3) releases already under their belt for 2021 and last years Fragments CD, Music For Photographers feels like the lads have allowed themselves some time and space to carve out this ambient indulgence, keeping the more rhythmic releases for the Dubs EP’s. Oliver Ho features on two tracks they have a different feeling, with the first almost KLF Chill Out! like “Pho-kuss,” which then mutates into a moody and beatier big brother version as “Re-Pho-kuss.”
Definitely an album that will be a grower, and one that needs some time with the listener to ferment into your northern souls. Also recommended for those that do not need beats to stay interested, and fans of some of the current top ambient labels mentioned above. I suspect it may slip under the radar for some and in time become a very sought after classic—and that should not be taken as a cue to vinyl flippers. (8.5/10)
Also: Check out the Brutal Sheffield & Brutal Yorkshire books, and 2022 calendar also available at https://www.duststore.com.
Music For Photographers is available on Dust Science November 12, 2021. [Bandcamp | Release page]
