Michael Remsen’s ‘Almost Up To The Sky’ is released on the New York based Streak Records. Comprising of 11 instrumental tracks we are urged to think of this as classical music played through synthesisers and as a series of tone poems built around three note motifs. OK.
The most obvious parallels are with Harold Budd (1996’ ‘Luxa’ in particular) and The Aphex Twin. However, Remsen lacks Budd’s finesse and compositional robustness and the edgy urban setting of his ambient music offers nothing new or startling that hasn’t already been covered in Richard James’ ‘Selected Ambient Works . That said ‘Almost Up To The Sky’ has its moments. Opening track ‘Zee Part 1’ builds from its reverberating noise to a sky-scraping string-heavy melody line. ‘Carnivale A’ is pleasingly odd despite its brevity and ‘Anabel’ offers the most accessible music, a fragile and beautiful piece that benefits from a greater emphasis on melody and could be mistaken for an outtake from Vangelis’ ‘Blade Runner’ soundtrack.
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Elsewhere Remsen’s heavy reliance on sound/tonal experimentation lacks sufficient originality or coherency to captivate, sounding like little more than late-night studio doodling. At times his music is too characterless to engage the listener and elsewhere too awkward to exact any empathy or feeling. There are ideas but they lack substance and form and much of the album wanders aimlessly, suggesting a destination but never offering worthwhile directions to it.
www.streakrecords.com
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