Ambient is a deceptively complex genre to master. Far
from being able to rely on ear-catching gimmicks, musicians
often have to make the most of rarefied sonic elements,
and only the most imaginative manage to retain the attention
of their audience. British cellist and producer Marvin
Ayres has gained recognition through his releases for
Mille Plateaux sub-label Ritornell and experimental
imprint Burning Shed. Although his work makes good use
of electronics, Ayres actually focuses his attention
on his classical background and bases his compositions
on processed sounds sourced from cellos, violins and
pianos.
Following a first critically-acclaimed album, Cellosphere,
for Ritornell in 1999, Ayres went on to progressively
develop his compositions to adapt to a variety of contexts,
including film music. Scape was originally
developed as a series of experiments with strings, collected
on the second half of the album into eleven Clusters,
all clocking at around two and a half minutes. These
were selected to be used in Pete Gomes’s film
Scape, with whom Ayres collaborated on a previous
audio-visual project, Sensory, which was premiered
at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London in July
1999.
The nine tracks used for Scape, collected on
the first half of the album, present a radical revision
of the Clusters series. Introducing beat patterns
and pulses set against Ayres original sonic developments,
these compositions remain truly ambient in nature, yet
the clear rhythmic grids thrown over the nebulous soundscapes
create a more contrasted terrain where melodies appear
at once more fascinating and more impalpable. Although
the sound formations developing in the background remain
close to Ayres original template, the complexity of
his compositions becomes more obvious. Ayres’s
sonic magma appears richer and more approachable, especially
on tracks such as Voco Pluck, which opens,
Pitch Bit or Rule Change No. 17, and
each alteration to the overall mood becomes more tangible.
The second half of the album draws the listen back to
Ayres’s usual atmospheric constructions. Here,
the various elements used to create the vast soundscapes
take on a whole new dimension. The various processed
string components often emerge from the dense background
clouds only to disappear again moments later, leaving
behind vaporous traces. Unlike in the first half of
the album, where rhythmic structures define each track
against the others, there is nothing to differentiate
the compositions in the second half, and Ayres actually
deliberately merges them together to create one long
atmospheric evolution.
Unlike Scape, Cycle was originally
created as the score for a DVD surround sound installation
combining images of nature and artificial life sequences.
The twelve track here are based, as the sub-title indicates,
on sounds sourced from two pianos, one perfectly tuned
and recorded under perfect acoustic conditions, while
the other, a slightly out of tune baby grand, was captured
in a normal room. Only the harmonics of both instruments
were used on this project, combined into slow-moving
sonic bubbles. The result is at once puzzling and captivating.
With no clear musical element ever coming to disturb
Ayres aural constructions, the mind is left wandering,
apparently aimlessly, as resonances flow from one track
to the next, yet here, there is no conscious effort
to merge one sonic mass into another. Instead, the boundaries
of each track are clearly defined, and if this doesn’t
greatly alter the overall stream of the project, it
helps the mind keep track of the various sections, or
sketches, of this record.
Far less accessible than Scape, Cycle
probably suffers from being disassociated with its visual
counterpart. Undoubtedly, these compositions would take
a whole new dimension if placed alongside sequenced
images, but without any support, the arid soundscapes
collected here are rather too hermetic and lack of structure
to retain the attention of the listener. Scape
on the other hand, is a greatly rewarding piece. The
rich soundscapes are superbly evocative and delicate,
and contribute to the two halves of this album working
in perfect harmony.
Scape 4.2/5 Cycle 3/5 |
