Scott Morrison's 'Ballad(s) for Quiet Horizons' isn't an album to be judged – and therefore reviewed – on musical contents and merit alone. Although ostensibly an instrumental work consisting of six pieces, it's also a soundtrack – a soundtrack to the accompanying video that Morrison also made. As such, the project must be explored as a whole, being not only a multimedia work, but a multisensory experience.
Morrison watches these quiet horizons from the ground, presenting a microcosmic view of nature. You're first led, amidst waves of widescreen ambience and rolls of distant thunder, through fields of long grass and ripening wheat or barley. The gusts of wind that buffet the heads this way and that, creating rippling patterns over the ground – watch long enough and things will appear like an ever-shifting magic eye image – are echoed in the sound which rises and falls.
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Eventually, the focus shifts and you're down amongst the stems as they swish and sway, filling your insect-eye view of the world. Onwards and downwards, you eventually arrive in the rainforest. Droplets refract light that sparkle black and white and infinite greys as the sounds of nature and rainfall wash over the senses leaving the listener refreshed.
It's a simple but effective concept, and Morrison's sensitive treatment sees it superbly realised.
Scott Morrison Online
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