Sunday, August 30, 2015

Shane Morris & Mystified - “Evolution” CD

Evocative modern primitive soundscapes!

The third piece in a trilogy, this 5-track, 60-minute album charts organic life as it, well, evolves from the primordial stew into complex life forms. Using predominantly electronic instruments, Morris and Mystified (aka Thomas Park) craft sounds that evoke the imagined “proto-music” of primitive man. Basic percussion, tribal drums, minimal scratchings, gongs, and the sounds of the natural world all around are here, haunting, mysterious, and somehow alluring.

The “music”, or perhaps more appropriately ambient sound, on “Evolution” is subtle and quiet, but never static. The elements of mood and texture are all present, and even semblances of near-melody. But don’t expect a wistful set of cheery background sounds. This is a heady, rich, and immersive sound-stew that conjures vivid mental imagery, like a gradually-moving cinematic experience.

“Fire Gathering” is a dark night-time ritual — lighting torches in a ravine with the ocean breeze wafting along the treeline. “Growing Into New Territory” combines light percussion with the sounds of water running, and deep drones — like a tentative visit into an undiscovered cavern under a clear, starry night. It’s lovely music really, with a swell of wonder and a tingle of darkness. 

“Evolution” is a wonderfully rich and subtle (yet heady) work of electronic ambient sound sculpture. It’s a spacious travelogue to times long since forgotten. Fully recommended.