Pausal’s patented minimalist neo-romanticism offsets harmonic comfort zone with subtle experimental edge, finding a fine balance between long-form drones and hushed acoustic twinkles—of the nature tone and of soft synthesis, dense yet gossamer-light, particulate and dissolved.
Infraction owner, Jason Bryant has always seemed like a genuine fan—one whose label stewardship feels like an extension of his ‘fandom,’ rather than some svengali-type seeking self-actualization with a product that’s incidental. In regard to New Forest ecstatic droners, Pausal, there’s a kind of overlap here with your reviewer—who, as well as writing about Alex Smalley and Simon Bainton’s music (and dancing about their architectures) just happens to have been a fan since the halcyon days of myspace, when early tracks uploaded there would be on continuous stream; long before debut album, Lapses (Barge, 2010), this was a zone of sharing where I indulged in a kind of fanboy version of match-making with Jason over the first release, Pausal EP, on late lamented Highpoint Lowlife, prodding him gently to tempt the lads to Infraction.
A few releases later on various labels, that long-harbored wish has finally been granted in Along the Mantic Spring. It’s a paean to nature’s new blooming that, following a slight divergence in Sky Margin (Own, 2013), returns to go-to Ambient grand metanarrative of nature (cf. Forms (Barge, 2012)), specifically seasonal (cf. Autumnal (Students of Decay, 2011)). Draped in folds of guitar-based droning ambience further overlaid with piano, string grabs, and environmental recordings, more guitar, an ambience of a postclassical inflection is articulated that feels as if reaching for something just-there though not-quite-reachable, half-buried bells—and, who knows, bows—barely-there flecks of matter melding into the overall musical sweet mash, inviting further ferment and deeper listening archaeologies. At once minimal in means and maximal in atmosphere, synth-clouds, vinyl samples, and string loopism tap into an Ur-ambient spirit redolent of Thursday Afternoon-period Eno with 70s New Age and Kosmische promptings.
In sum, Pausal’s patented minimalist neo-romanticism offsets harmonic comfort zone with subtle experimental edge, finding a fine balance between long-form drones and hushed acoustic twinkles—of the nature tone and of soft synthesis, dense yet gossamer-light, particulate and dissolved. ‘Micro-orchestral music played with minimalist economy’ remains their banner, new skeins for the old ceremony that hint at a return to the denser more reverb-drenched contours of their earlier haunts, a more developed spatial and structural sense—in source sound and architecture—emerging as it plays out. Finished by ambient/drone grand-masterer, James Plotkin, and housed in a nifty tip-on style gatefold sleeve featuring watercolor artwork by Charmagne Coe from which the album takes its name.
Along the Mantic Spring is available on Infraction [vinyl | digital]
