What follows constitutes, for want of time for exhaustive description, a representative sample of some of the year’s rich late harvest courtesy of Past Inside the Present.
Some of the year’s rich late harvest
Past Inside the Present continued to be central (in importance) and peripheral (in operant listening mode) over 2023, titles coming, if not thick and fast, then neither slim (in pickings) or slow (in release schedule); what follows constitutes, for want of time for exhaustive description, a representative sample of some of the year’s rich late harvest.
First, Unlikely Places, where you’ll find Cynthia Bernard (vocals, guitar) spending more time with her family—all good, though, as it’s hubby James (bass, synth, keyboards, guitar) and their baby, Awakened Souls. Deep dives, sundry imagery—verdant forests, nightsky, plenty serenity sans sopor, i.e. ample interest in those unignored parts. Inspirational cue from creativity’s infinite potential—to be, given a spirit of receptive openness, ‘born from unlikely places that we now know were all meant to be more than just another passing moment,’ either ‘within the line of a poem, in the way the moon bathes a hillside in light, in recognizing your ability to love others and yourself the way you are,’ or ‘in a vulnerable conversation, in thinking about what helps you fall asleep, in an unexpected frog in your throat, in the way morning birds sing;’ whether on “waiting”—poised and deliberate, not vacuous fluffed up effluvia, or “fall asleep, dream”—oscillating synthline resonant as it arcs over soft washes and vocal aetherea, mindful focus, order brought to chaos. From the uplift of ‘it could be wings’ to the moodier ‘moonbeams,’ with its West Coast swells and billows, guitar-infused swathes doused in environmentalia, Unlikely Places is a paean to the infinite everything-everywhere of creative possibility. Among the most delicate—capital ‘D’—meditative—capital ‘M’—yet in the D&M section of PITP’s back catalog.
Next, Chicago’s Tyresta brings his latest, Small Hours, to PITP, following All We Have (2020) with an exploration of themes related to the human condition, viz. the ever-popular grief, loss, and impermanence—with hefty infusions of healing and growth, mind. Nicholas Turner approaches these with customary subtlety and a sonically-mediated intimacy of response in an inquiry that reveals novel turns each subsequent listen. Indeed the album’s resonance may transcend its sonic realm, especially in the temporal zones eponomously indicated, when evocative potential is optimized. Small Hours stands as testament to the transformative power of sound, gentle cadence and evolving harmony, it is suggested, constituting a haven wherein the listener may seek solace or rekindling of the spirit. Additional production comes variously from collaborators and/or kindred spirits, viz. wøunds and City of Dawn (“1” and “5”), awakened souls and Pepo Galán (“2”), marine eyes (“3”), Slow Dancing Society (“4”), and Simon McCorry (“5”, “6”, “7”).
Kévin Séry, with his ambient guitar project, From Overseas, is the latest colluder with zakè, their Demain, dès l’aube alluding to one of Victor Hugo’s best-known, and most enigmatic, poems. In it tension is built in a highly visually suggestive way, as we’re first taken for a walk, destination unknown, purpose uncertain, through the Normandy paysage—perhaps a lover’s date (though the poem eventually unveils something deeper). For the work Zach Frizzell took favorite sounds to form foundational loops, from which a raft of vignettes was created, then grown, reshaped and expanded, various guitar parts (From Overseas, presumably) introduced and merged with tape processing, and synth work, resulting in a set of stately long-form tracts, which slowly unspool with meticulous attention to detail. From Overseas and zakè’s compositions with their immersive recursions offer compelling affordance spaces for questing inner voyagers. Eight pieces of mesmeric cadence that are as interesting, when attending, as they’re ignorable, when you aren’t, Demain, dès l’aube is at once present and remote, in the Here and Now and in The Elsewhere.
Last, James Bernard redux, here off with the lads—one anyway, Brad Deschamps, whose Soft Octaves deploys 6-string bass, an unwonted source with a range spanning chthonic rumble to celestial etherea. Captured in a single take, FX-treated, edges rounded by a volume pedal, an intriguing kind of timbral indeterminacy forms as the set develops, here like a deep string, there a reed or woodwind or otherwise, oriented with a felicitous turn—an ear for le ton juste. His offerings are enhanced by anthéne with harmonized pulses, a slow-mo lyricism via pedal steel that’s just so somehow. A certain Nordic American glaciality merges into the source’s coastal haze, as on the title track, blithely unveiling echoing guitar swells against granular detail and organic susurration. “Trembling House” incorporates voice (marine eyes aka wife, Cynthia, again) layered in ghost tones, for a languorous lull, the aqueous tonefloat of “Renascence” and “Cortège” dressed in cathedralesque. ‘Times of uncertainty and hope’ are cited by Bernard as a spur for much of this, his veteran credentials (30+ years in the trade) much in evidence in a well-manicured set artfully choreographed by Polar Seas curator, Deschamps.
Unlikely Places, Small Hours, Demain, dès l’aube and Soft Octaves are available on Past Inside the Present.
