A hefty slab of Power Ambient Drone redolent of the best from Tim Hecker, Ben Frost, and Fennesz.
News of a forthcoming reissue on Room40 for The Peregrine, Lawrence English‘s homage to J.A. Baker’s eponymous tome. Originally released in 2011 on Experimedia with a limited pressing and long out of print, the album is being reissued on LP and on CD/digital for the first time. Ears piqued by last year’s Wilderness of Mirrors will be twirled by The Peregrine, its place in English’s back catalog being something of a sonic precursor. It’s also one of his most fully realized works, perhaps partly due to the profound impact the book has had on his work since first stumbling upon it some years ago on a visit to author/musicologist David Toop.
English draws a parallel between the evocative sonic topographies of his work and the descriptive prose of the book: ‘I feel The Peregrine epitomizes a kind of obsessive rendering of landscape and environment. Throughout the book, Baker places central focus on the micro and macro worlds which surrounding him. He expends as much attention on the shape of clouds or the murmur of a river as on the bird, which inspires him to write.’ The music finds associations with accounts of land, environment and movement articulated through experimentation with harmonic saturation and distortion. From the magisterial opening of “October 1 – The Hunting Life” to the sustained drone altitudes of “April 4 – And He Sleeps,” it’s a hefty slab of Power Ambient Drone redolent of the best from Tim Hecker, Ben Frost, and Fennesz.
Tracklisting:
- October 1 – The Hunting Life
- November 16 – Dead Oak
- December 24 – Frost’s Bitter
- January 30 – Grey Lunar Sea
- February 10 – The Roar Seasing
- March 16 – Heavy Breath of Silence
- April 4 – And He Sleeps
The Peregrine is out soon on Room40.
