Imaginary Softwoods - Imaginary Softwoods

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4...according to our Clinton on Fri 29 Oct, 2010.

Emeralds get about don't they? This is one of the dudes doing is own deep dark synth drone thing. I have no idea which is the A side as the records don't have any indication of what it what so I've just plonked it on and hoped for the best. About 4 minutes in nothing has yet happened. There's a very grainy lo fidelity drone that as I write has been joined by another drone. I've just moved the stylus on to the next track. This drone is busier, slightly higher in tone. I can hear some variation to the sound...ah brilliant there's a deep sub bass come to the party. Its definitely oscillating. The track is getting grainier as it goes on. Track 3 is completely different, this is a slow hand on a synth - no drone. The next side is more drone variation. Track 6 on the album is a very pleasant tone indeed, probably the best tone yet, quite beautiful. Anyway, I may mock slightly but this is a very restrained project. There are some beautifully washed out colours and a delicate hand on the board meaning that each piece has brevity, subtle changes and shape of mood and thankfully is twiddle free. Haunting late night sleep inducing music.......and God knows I need sleep.

Three years ago, a triple cassette oddity appeared out of
nowhere adorned in washed-out nature collages and zero
information. Turns out that John Elliot of Emeralds was behind
the madness, and after further dissection of the sounds
enclosed and it all began to make sense.

Those three tapes (one yellow, one blue, one red) were the first
taste of something that felt like a lost private-press object from
the early European electronic experimentations of the '60s &
'70s. Each vignette is its own story, its own exploration.
Synthesizers and other electronics are stripped to their bare
bones, never drifting beyond a mere five minutes. It's the
brevity that is the guiding hand, though. Every tone and every
note is carefully considered and utilized as you're sucked into a
world of washed-out colors and sullen landscapes.

One thing that immediately stands out with these pieces is just
how restrained Elliot is with them. It adds considerable
tension, even if its understated, giving the album a surprising
amount of emotional depth. Each piece is its own miniature
mountain, traversed and left behind all in a matter of minutes.
As you interact with the subtlety changing harmonics and tonal
shifts, you begin to float away into synthetic dreams. If all
bedroom albums were this great, I'd never leave the house. A
true gem.

It doesn't get much better than this. Completely remastered for
vinyl by James Plotkin and cut in Berlin by D+M. The deluxe
vinyl edition is presented in full-color gatefold jackets with all
new art from John Elliot in conjunction with the inimitable
Witchbeam.