SMD

This CD was recommended to me by Mike Metlay (of Metlay) and Grant Middleton (from Under The Dome), so it should be pretty good. There are seventeen index points but the CD is really split up in to two long tracks "Timeline 1" and "Timeline 2". It all starts very quietly with metallic colouring and synth chatter (listen for the amazing stereo effects). We then get a weird piano section which leads to a sequence with a rasping vocal quality to it Piano touches add a bit of detail and things chug along nicely for a couple of minutes before becoming sparse with loads of space used to add to the atmosphere. The vocoded / sampled effects sounds used in the earlier sequence now provide the main focus as if we are listening in to a faint garbled conversation.

The piano returns but this time a stuttering rhythm joins in. The next passage is fairly aggressive with high hat rhythm and occasional scorching lead line. It ends with a percussive section which leads well into the next section, an Avant Garde movement for bells, xylophone and triangle! Or so it sounded to me. Morse code type distorted tones bounce between the speakers. Crashes of sound create excitement and a sequence is added which heightens the tension. This is the best section so far. When the melody comes in it reminded me a little of something from Edgar Froese's "Kamikaze 1989". The final section to the first track is also outstanding with a steady rhythm fitting in perfectly with a repeated series of "breathy" long held down notes but its the eight note melody coming in and being allowed to just stand hauntingly on its own that provides a moment of real genius.

Moving on to "Timeline 2". It starts with a percussive section which mutates into an almost clock like note cycle. An odd little melody comes and goes. Cascades of bright notes fall like icy rain onto a carpet of faint drones. A "vocal" synth note increases and decreases in intensity, like the sea constantly rising and falling, added to this are sounds not too dissimilar to striking vast echoing bells. A solo saxophone then oboe (?) take the honours for most of the next part. A sequence and rhythm then make an entrance and things sound much more dramatic. All is then change again and we get wind blown metallic pipes with percussion. A mesmerizing looped section then takes the track forward towards a percussive sequence, a chiming bell and killer lead stabs. Infectious rhythms develop and we enter another very accessible passage. The CD finishes with a section that is both dark and eerie and yet playful at the same time. It is called "The Mad Hatter's Last Moondance" so you can probably see where he is coming from, sort of macabre.

There is no doubt that Nick Rothwell is a very talented composer. At times he ventures off into Avant Garde realms but at others his music is very accessible, the one constant is that it is always very descriptive.