New albums from Snow Palms, Angèle David-Guillou and Faten Kanaan, pushing post-classical envelopes and more, fall under the review spotlight

To some of us, 2020 has felt like a dystopic film shot through the fog, with confusion clouding over clarity in many spheres of life. Now that the real mists of winter are rolling heavily in, it is tempting to seek the solace of hermetic hibernation even further from the outside world. Yet even at this stage, strong batches of late-in-the-year releases still warrant our attention. Here below then are just some that have sneaked – almost Indiana Jones style – underneath the door descending at the end of a torrid twelve months.

Perhaps few better things could have arrived in the twilight of 2020 to burn through the murk and malaise than Land Waves, the third album on Village Green from Snow Palms. Now firmly re-established as an augmented democratic duo, with Matt Gooderson (Infadels) now an equal to founder David Sheppard (State River Widening, Phelan Sheppard, Ellis Island Sound et al.), this gorgeously glistening and uplifting collection sets its controls for the heart of the post-classical sun… and then some. Fleshing out the promise of last year’s 12” EP, with Gooderson’s other-half Megan adding her balmy ululating vocals into the hyper-rhythmic meldings of marimbas, glockenspiels, xylophones, clarinets, flutes, modular synths, piano, organ, drums and all manner of esoteric implements in-between, this is a long-player that revels in the intimate as well as the widescreen.

Veering between epic trance-inducing Music for 18 Musicians minimalism (“Atom Dance” and “Everything Ascending”), gamelan-tinged closeness (“Evening Rain Gardens” and “Thought Shadow”), undulating multi-movement orchestrations (the title track), twinkling far-eastern motorik grooves (“Kojo Yakei”) and This Mortal Coil-meets-Brian Eno ethereality (“White Cranes Return”), Land Waves travels far with an interstellar range yet also remains comfortingly humane and earthbound. An elevating and soothing triumph in short.

Similarly late out of the nouveau classical Village Green label stable in this murrain-mired annum is A Question of Angles, the third full-length set from erstwhile Piano Magic chanteuse Angèle David-Guillou. Whilst 2017’s impressive En Mouvement LP strongly forged a broader symphonic scope than 2013’s piano etude sketching solo debut Kourouma, this follow-up emphatically moves things up and out in all directions. Composing and arranging for a saxophone octet, a string septet and a choir ensemble as well as sundry other cello, clarinet, flute, trombone, piano and theremin players and her own multi-instrumentalism, this is an unashamedly ambitious affair.

Yet crucially, A Question of Angles is not an inaccessible or lofty creation. Right the way through, David-Guillou keeps one ear tuned to her classical training and another to the most cinematic corners of her record collection. Hence, over its six lengthy segments, we’re treated to the stirring sax and marching-drum powered “Valley of Detachment” with its skilled nods to Michael Nyman; the majestical Morricone-meets-Felt Mountain expansiveness of the titular-cut; the piano-driven Steve Reich-like rippling of “Absolutely Not”; the steely choppy cellos-led “Akrotiri”; the pastorally-reflective “Forgetting Trees”; and the rousing yet subtle choir-bolstered John Barry-esque finale of “Quid Pro Quo”. Whilst a long stylistic distance from Angèle David-Guillou’s still deeply-adored time within Piano Magic, A Question of Angles is an unquestionable success in blending complexity, intuition and focus into an immersive bubble.

Also fuelled by exploring classical arrangements and filmic idioms – albeit with a different mode of delivery – is A Mythology of Circles, the fourth album from the Brooklyn-based Faten Kanaan. Having wowed with her very promising 2016 debut, The Botanist & The Archaeologist, on Polytechnic Youth, 2017’s Pleiade Hex 6 (also on PY) and 2018’s Foxes (via More Than Human) LPs seemed a lot less gripping in comparison, leading to fears that such nascent potential was petering out somewhat. Thankfully though, this first full-length for Fire Records finds Kanaan sonically revived. Whilst it’s a shame that her tentative evocative tones have beaten the retreat even further behind these largely instrumental recordings, the potency and allure of the thirteen gathered tracks signifies a satisfying turn of creative fortunes.

Swimming in the same tributaries as Tragedy-era Julia Holter and latter-day Julianna Barwick, whilst harking back to older sources of inspiration, not all of them musical, A Mythology of Circles fashions cinematic ambient soundscapes that eruditely tap into cosmic myths and legends with vintage-sounding synths and samplers. Along the way, this takes the form of evocative Gregorian ghostliness (“Patagonia Motet 1: Lago”), chirruping horror-film creepiness (“Birds of Myrrh”), amniotic low-end lurking (“Sleepwalker”), space age pirouetting (“Rêve-Rivière”), ecclesiastical dronescapes (“The North Wind”) and Wendy Carlos hauntings (“Ishtar Terra”). Although ultimately Faten Kanaan isn’t offering anything dramatically fresh here, there is an inscrutable sense of intrigue across A Mythology of Circles that keeps inviting you back to uncover its many hidden layers.

Adrian
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