Sonnamble - Blindlight

Our review
Customer reviews
Press release
Soundclips
Tracklist

1 - Aphelion I
2 - Aphelion II
3 - Blindlight
4 - Society

4...according to our Phil on Thu 20 Oct, 2011.

Here's the 2nd album by Sonnamble on the Forwind label. I didn't hear the last one. Brian hogged it all to himself with his chubby headphones so I'm here with fresh ears listening to their noise, and a rather pleasant noise it is too. It's kind of experimental lap steel guitar business with strange drones and other such noises in the background. The press release mentions 2 very apt words... twangy (there is a lot of twangs) and fuzziness (there's also a bit of that going on). It's far from easy listening though as the music veers off to strange places in the blink of an eye. On 'Blindlight' occasionally some harsh fuzzy white noise pops in randomly and it's taken me by surprise every time. I hate it when music scares me! Elements of melody crop up here and there but this follows your more sound art tip. It's kinda 12K ish so I'd say if you're a fan of the 12K roster then you'll be pleasured by the experimental sounds on offer here.

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Blindlight is the second release from London based electro-acoustic
improvisers Sonnamble, again consisting of Conor Curran on electronics
and software and Peter Marsh on stringed instruments. The recording
sessions took place not long after the release of the duo's well received
debut Seven Months in E Minor and according to Curran it's 'a nice little
closer to that chapter'. Again, the focus is on Marsh's lap steel guitar,
whose drones, chords and twangs are coaxed into expansive ambient
fuzziness or atomised into grains of noise by Curran's home-cooked
software patches. But there's a spareness and a more pronounced
spikiness to the music this time round; it's still immersive stu , but more
edgy. There's even some spoken word on the closing Society;
a recording of Curran's uncle describing the state of Irish mental health
in the last century. It's funnier than it sounds, but the combination with
the dolorous swirls of processed lap steel give it a curious emotional
resonance.

The title is a corruption of the name of an installation piece by sculptor
Antony Gormley, in which vistors were invited to wander around in a
large, brightly lit glass tank full of thick grey fog. "I went two or three
times", says Marsh. "It was a very weird, but kind of comforting experi-
ence. You could hardly see your hand in front of your face. The music,
when it's really working, gives me the same kind of feeling, so it seemed
like a good title for what we'd done..."

Opening track ‘Aphelion I’ was selected for the latest Wire Tapper
compilation available with the August edition of the magazine.