Zomes - Improvisations

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4...according to our Mike on Fri 20 Jan, 2012.

Asa Osborne of Lungfish fame's solo project Zomes is back with some cosmic synth explorations intended to take you deep into the primitive ether. Over the course of three long improvisations, Osborne accompanies rich, swelling walls of mid-end tone with some far-out synth tinklings that flutter away on the periphery quite pleasantly. Unlike his previous stuff this isn't beat-driven and there's no repetitive basis around which the free-flowing melodic lines are built. It's meditative and hypnotic and while it is quite playful and restless at times it's never jarringly so and makes for a consistently relaxing listen.

•   Asa Osborne (Lungfish, The Pupils)’s solo guise, Zomes, returns with his second Thrill Jockey release. A collection of improvisations aptly titled ‘Improvisations’. It consists of three primordial cosmic transmissions that phase in and out of a thick drone filled ether. This release is a little different from his previous solo efforts and focuses even more heavily on the meditative aspects of his music while eschewing some of the steadfast cyclical repetition.

• Zomes is the penultimate exercise in the study of repetition and meditative repose. Simple melodic keyboard patterns overlay primitive drum loops. The repetitive quality is both remindful of much in the Oriental music tradition as well as Osborne’s guitar work in Lungfish. Patterns emerge and disintegrate, spaces expand and contract, all in a cyclic pattern that is by nature fixed and by design capable of transporting the listener to otherworldly states.

•   With ‘Improvisations’, the drum loops are replaced with a more obtuse drone bed pulsing not unlike a key on a harmonium that's been taped down. The continually changing tones create a warm sea of sound that acts as a canvas for his melodic improvisations. Tonal transmissions that phase in and out of a thick drone-filled ether, captured, translated, and expressed in Zomes’ own unique language of meditative bliss.

•   ‘Improvisations’, recorded on a cassette tape, also comes on the heels of the critically acclaimed and equally simply recorded ‘Earth Grid’. In addition to touring in North American and Europe, Asa joined a tour with The Skull Defekts and his old Lungfish foil, Daniel Higgs. The three ended up recording the Skull Defekts mini LP ‘2013-3012’ together during the tour. More extensive touring is on the horizon in 2012, as well as Zomes’ debut studio recording.

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