TVO/THE VILLAGE ORCHESTRA
Amid The Blaze Of Noon
HPLL056
Highpoint Lowlife 2011
01 Track. 64mins04secs

Amazon UK: DLD US: DLD Boomkat: DLD

Ruaridh Law has, from his debut album, released on Highpoint Lowlife six years ago, created a truly unique and individual body of work. In recent months, Law has been busy establishing his new imprint, Broken20, just as one of the labels who have been so supportive of his work, Highpoint Lowlife, is in the process of folding out. It is therefore quite fitting that one of the label’s last releases should be the latest Village Orchestra opus.

Like some of Law’s more recent releases, Amid The Blaze Of Noon is essentially an hour-long piece, but this is more than just one lengthy experiment. Articulated around a series of distinct sequences, Amid The Blaze Of Noon goes through a series of beautifully crafted ambient sections, where acoustic and electronic textures are at times supplanted by field recordings, before picking up pace in later part

Amid The Blaze Of Noon is the fruit of a three years process; its basic components were sourced from a live performance at Cafe Oto, North London, at the end of August 2008, for which Law collected field recordings around Dalston and Stoke Newington on the day of the event. The various components were later brought together and assembled into the different chapters forming the final piece.

The album opens with big slabs of distorted electric guitars pushed slightly in the distance and drenched in reverb as to smooth all splintered edges and retain the intensity of the recurring discharges of energy. As they progressively withdraw to reveal clusters of field recordings, then a much more settled atmospheric passage, the piece takes on a very different aspect. Glitches and slight distortions can be heard in the backdrop, and processed guitars are still part of the fabric of the piece, but the overall tone hints at vast kaleidoscopic spaces which, while continuously changing, retain a particular glow which continues to radiate for some time as Law progresses toward another segment.

For over half an hour, the mood remains extremely subdued as Law continues to draft the outlines of sumptuous introspective sonic structures, at times drifting on the verge of kosmische, but, while there is no major mood shift, he builds a very different sonic space past the half way mark, assembling tiny acoustic guitar motifs into shimmering layers. While the vast majority of these eventually evaporate, leaving only a handful of textural loops, this simmering activity eventually leads to a more upbeat and clearly defined part of the record as Law introduces a techno-infused beat and assembles analog electronics into dense layers, pushing this record in yet another direction.

For the next ten minutes, Law switches to much sparser and more progressive rhythmic structures, which he applies to vast ethereal soundscapes. As the beat gains density, it appears to ripple deep down into the backdrop in seismic pulses, but it is soon swallowed by a latest wave of organic matter as voices and street noises become once again predominant. For the piece’s last section, Law drifts into hypnotic vintage ambient reminiscent of Higher Intelligence Agency or early Pete Namlook or Orb, as pulsating electronic sounds give the piece a surprising late boost.

With this latest record, Ruaridh Law demonstrates once again his impeccable knack at putting together strong sonic narratives and sustaining them convincingly over their entire course. Amid The Blaze Of Noon is a superbly crafted ambient soundtrack which retains its atmospheric edge even when Law ventures into upbeat territories.

4.8/5

The Village Orchestra | Highpoint Lowlife
Amazon UK: DLD US: DLD Boomkat: DLD

Dalston. Ala from Bryan Kerr on Vimeo.