Turning old into new: For their collaborative project »Colours of Air«, Canadian Scott Morgan aka Loscil and Australian composer Lawrence English have taken on a collection of pieces from a centuries-old pipe organ that otherwise sits innocuously in Brisbane’s History Museum. Now all kinds of big words are coming out again. A »sacred« album featuring eight tracks, a reduction, an extension. The press release refers to terms such as spatial sound and nave with stained glass. Is that it? Yes. And no. Because with all its drones and rising and falling sounds, »Colours of Air« is first and foremost a projection screen. The deconstructed sound of the organ becomes a sky filled with tones and splinters. A gigantic cloud of all possible moods. The first collaborative album by the two musicians is correspondingly different. »Magenta« sounds like the end of the world, »Black« almost harmless in contrast. Clearly, anyone who sets out to listen to this album will not be able to listen to it casually. Ambient, minimalism and modern composition define the forms, but they feel much freer, much more experimental than these genres usually allow. If this kind of music draws landscapes, then »Colours of Air« is a gigantic castle in the air with myriad nooks, crannies and rooms in which you can lose yourself. The album demands a lot from the listener, opens up very slowly and is rewarding precisely for that reason. For once you have found the door to get in, you wander alone and happily through the eight tracks.
Lawrence English & Lea Bertucci
Chthonic
American Dreams