Andrew Coleman’s makeshift folk was first catalogued
on Everything Was Beautiful And Nothing Hurt,
released in 2001 on Thrill Jockey. Far removed from
the hectic beats formations of his drum’n’bass
work as Animals On Wheels, name under which he has released
a couple of albums for Ninja Tune, this first album
published under his name portrayed Coleman in a far
more contemplative light. Swapping beats for processed
acoustic guitars and field recordings, he was investigating
similar intimate sonic spaces to Greg
Davis, carving rarefied melodies deep into delicate
blankets of sounds.
Four years on, Coleman has joined the ranks of Tripel
Records, a label founded by former Gwei-Lo member Dave
Henson, who recently released two limited edition EPs
and an album, Visceral
Vendor, as Ascoltare,
with sole purpose to promote his own work as well as
that of two other Cambridge natives, Coleman and UM.
Demons sees Coleman returning to where Everything
Was Beautiful left off and pursuing his sound investigations,
relentlessly exploring the most remote corners of sonic
abstraction. Yet, Demons is more accessible
than could be first expected. Not unlike Greg
Davis, Coleman refines his compositions to the point
when only the essential is left, leaving their skeleton
structures for all to contemplate. Yet, his music appears
at times more autistic, as if Coleman felt happiest
within his own world. Over forty minutes or so, Coleman
alternates between genre-bending escapades into pure
abstraction and leisurely strolls into more defined
musical forms, giving Demons a curiously balanced
identity, and making it a truly fascinating record.
More than a simple follow up to its predecessor, Demons
sees Andrew Coleman venturing deeper into his own sonic
environment, unveiling new grounds on which to see his
work evolve, experimenting with textures and tones and
ultimately crushing rule after rule to let his work
flourish fully. A must.
4.7/5 |
