(07.04.06) Scott Morgan doesn’t stray too far from the niche he’s created with
Loscil as Plume continues where First Narrows left off.
Loscil still inhabits the dream-space of drones and micro-expression,
a phantasmal realm where the crackle of dust and static vie with the
subtle movement of atmospheric heartbeats and the pulsating rhythm of
sunspot activity. You don’t so much listen to a Loscil record as you
succumb to its gravity well and fall into the endless iterations of
its rhythmic universe.
A not entirely solo effort, Plume contains rhodes piano
contributions from Jason Zumpano and ebow guitar from Krista Marshall
— contributions which form part of the organic evolution of
“Rorschach” — while Josh Lindstrom provides vibes and xylophone and
Steve Wood bring ebow guitar to “Zephyr.” These instruments give some
form — albeit still ghostly — to Morgan’s ethereal electronics.
These tracks are wisps of smoke; strands of coalesced vapor that drift
and evolve in circular motions but which still seem to never settle
into a fully realized state. Morgan’s ambience is the wind singing to
you at the edge of your hearing. If you let it lull you, it fills
your head with sonorous echoes; if you try to chase it and find its
melodic core, it vanishes to the edge of your perception.
“Steam” is awash with the exhalations of mist, a gritty undercurrent
that isn’t quite static from an old vinyl record and isn’t quite radio
noise. The fragile wisps of ambience drift like a flowing wave
beneath Zumpano’s piano and the delicate chatter of wooden percussion
like the faint tapping of bird beaks against the hollow boles of old
trees. Lindstrom’s vibraphone on “Chinook” plays the part of the wind
in this aural painting, swooping and darting like its warm winter
namesake across a pristine and trackless winter landscape. Summoning
a time out of time, filled with light and gentle breezes, “Halcyon”
rings with light tones while organ-like drones undulate against a
light patter of electronics and percussion. Morgan’s charm lies in
his creation of organic pastorals through improvisational electronics
and carefully layered live instrumentation. Songs like “Halycon” are
bucolic odes to beatific ambient pastures. The final rondo of
“Mistral” is another capricious breeze, a whispering voice of gentle
vibraphone and piano over click-track glitch and languorous drones.
Plume
is Morgan’s ode to smoke, a collection of wandering
ambience that is both fog and light. Venturing into more vaporous
atmospheres than his previously aquatic-themed work, Plume is a
record that unties you from gravity, frees you from the heavy weight
of your ossifying bones. Loscil vibrates on a spiritual harmonic, his
drones and static speak to your cellular structure while the layered
instruments sing to your heart and brain. My whole body finds release
with Plume.
Plume is out now on Kranky. (Buy it at Amazon.com)
