Greg Davis’s latest effort is a far cry from the
bucolic ambiences of his previous records. While he
spent most of his two previous albums, Arbor
and Curling Pond Woods,
defining superbly delicate and textured off-beat pop
melodies based on acoustic instrumentation augmented
with processed beats and sounds, Somnia is
a much sterner piece of work. Yet, this album has far
more in common with its predecessors than meets the
ear and helps draw a more complete and detailed map
of Davis’s craftsmanship.
A collector of refined field recordings and arranger
of rich soundscapes par excellence, Greg Davis has been
exploring more rudimentary settings for some time, developing
an interest for drone-based music in the process. Somnia
collects six compositions recorded within the last few
years, each based around one singular source instrument,
ranging from acoustic guitar or Fender Rhodes to bowed
psaltery. In turn exposing sound in its roughest, most
austere, form (Archer), or continuously working
at it to highlight minute alterations in tone (Diaphanous,
Campestral), Davis carves each element, each
variation, with incredible precision. Far from presenting
a static piece of work, he develops here a magnificent
series of evocative compositions.
The variety and scope of these tracks, especially that
of the piece de resistance of this album, the epic twenty-two
minute long Campestral, is truly characteristic
of Davis’s work and a direct result of his fascination
for sound interactions. On the pastoral Diaphonous,
here presented in an edited version, the full version
of which was recently released on an eponymous EP (Lux
Nigra), Davis works from a toy harmonica source, processing
its various tonalities into superbly detailed layers
to form a vibrant ensemble, while Mirages (Version
2) is based on a Schaaf punchcard music box, the
sound of which, when processed, becomes strangely metallic
and mechanical, bringing Somnia onto an eerie
conclusion.
With this album, Greg Davis clearly positions himself
at the forefront of experimental music alongside his
friend Keith Fullerton
Whitman and provides a more complete image of his
work by placing his previous two albums in a totally
new context. Clearly defining wider sonic structures
within which to progress, Davis impresses by his clever
appropriation of electronic and acoustic spaces and
his mastery at shaping them at will.
4.8/5 |
