Description:	CD on Western Vinyl
	Format:	CD
	Genre(s):	Neoclassical
	Label:	Western Vinyl
	Price:	£11.09
	Availability:	In stock. Dispatched in 1 working day.

4
...according to our Brian on 11 March 2010.

Is Balmorhea a sudden, urgent shifting in the bowels when visiting the country home of our gracious Queen? Like, OMG does she have gold leaf bog roll or what? What if I use a full roll? Will I get billed? What if the bailiffs come round and kick my door in? Just because I've had a dump on Lizzie's throne!!! Worries aside for now as I investigate the REAL Balmorhea. This neo-classical/experimental folk outfit has a new album out and from the word go i'm being serenaded by gorgeous swooping strings, transcendental mandolin plucking, primal percussion and acoustic guitar. This is atmospheric, celebratory chamber-folk of the most impressive kind. Later pieces involve much rolling, portentous piano grazing. I wonder if they practice at night in some old Abbey ruins. They sound like a truly organic group, merging some sombre moods with moments of tender joy. I like them, i'm sorry I made fun out of their name. But not that sorry to remove it from my review....

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Sound clips for Constellations by Balmorhea : on CD at Norman Records UK. CD, Western Vinyl, WEST070CD , £11.09.

What their label says...

LP is a deluxe 180 gram single LP with mp3 download card.  Balmorhea's previous album All is Wild, All is Silent explored the freedom and isolation of settlers learning to live on an untamed frontier.  It was an intensely physical album, dealing with the struggles of man on earth.  By contrast, their new album Constellations shifts our focus to the cosmos and beyond, meditating solemnly on the mystical and metaphysical. The disarming simplicity of the tracks on Constellations proves that Balmorhea doesn't need dense arrangements full of 180 degree turns to craft deeply affecting compositions.  More than just self-imposed limitation, the scale of this collection of songs introduces a sense of intimacy and perspective through their skillful use of space and restraint.  For centuries humans have distilled order from the chaos of the night sky, turning a collection of bright dots into the framework for giants of myth and legend.  Similarly, the tracks on Constellations serve as framework for our individual mediations on the wonders of time and space. As the album captivates and inspires our imaginations by recreating the movements and colors of life, it often gives the listener the sense of being tossed about on the ocean, at the mercy of a reckless and merciless god. Ultimately we're left with the euphoric release experienced as one realizes, for the first time, that his fate relies more upon the teasing whims of the unknown than any design of his own. "Balmorhea flashes brilliance only to highlight a slow-burning constancy that's at the core of one of the year's early slow wonders." Pitchfork  / "Balmorhea, an acoustic quartet from Austin, plays tender, bucolic instrumentals that waft and linger like the remnants of a summer afternoon." Time Out  /  "There are the swells of Stravinsky, the mercurial keyboard majesty of Debussy, the triad-based romanticism of Arvo Pärt, the clangorous sensuality of Keith Jarrett, the electronics-meet-acoustics approach of Max Richter, and the beaming melodic flashes of the Takoma Records cartel (from John Fahey to George Winston, mind you)." Pitchfork  / "...each track plays out as a counselling session for the weary, dispensing affecting and emotionally rousing imagery like medication." Drowned In Sound.

Tracks : To The Order Of Night, Bowsprit, Winter Circle, Herons, Constellations, Steerage And The Lamp, Night Squall, On The Weight Of Night, Palestrina.