Loscil


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Triple Point (2001) , 6/10
Submers (2002) , 7/10
First Narrows (2004), 5/10
Plume (2006), 7/10
Endless Falls (2010), 6.5/10
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Vancouver-based Scott Morgan was a disciple of Brian Eno's Before And After Science. Armed with an arsenal of electronic instruments, Morgan (disguised under the moniker Loscil), penned brief instrumental vignettes. Triple Point (Kranky, 2001) sampled Morgan's first self-released album, A New Demonstration Of Thermodynamic Tendencies, inspired by thermodynamic concepts and formulas. The techno vapors of Hydrogen and Fuel Exergy, the industrial pulse of Zero, the haunting sci-fi soundscapes of Pressure, Discrete Entropy and Enthalpy recycle old ideas with modern means. Richard Bone has been doing for many years. The longer Conductivity and Absolute capture different aspects of sound, but then don't find much to do with them.

The "watery" theme of Submers (Kranky, 2002) helped Morgan craft a much more focused and creative work. The album is a stylitic tour de force that runs the gamut from the subliminal, and quasi-gothic, kosmische musik of Mute and Triton to the tribal techno of Gymnate. Argonaut whirls with the dervish-like flavor of Terry Riley's Rainbow in Curved Air, set against a solemn undercurrent of drones a` la Brian Eno's Music For Airports. The harsh electronic pulsation of Le Plongeur loops around eerie background drones. The psychedelic quality of Resurgam and the massively tragic quality of the Kursk requiem herald an artist who has emotions besides ideas.

Scott Morgan uses real instruments on First Narrows (Kranky, 2004), but the studio processing is so intense that the difference is only one of timbres. Lucy Dub still has some repetitive patterns, sometimes reminiscent of Terry Riley's undulating structures, although somewhat indecisive and shapeless. The guitar sings the melody of Ema. The organic, amoebic evolution of Mode is spoiled by sloppy beats. Sure, Brittle has some haunting, angelic cosmic drones; and the instruments pen the ten-minute new-age impressionism of First Narrows (with a dub-like cadence and languid guitar wails) and the intense nine-minute psalm of Cloister. But, overall, this sounds like a less focused work than its predecessors, and the lo-fi beats truly annoy in the long run.

(Translation by/ Tradotto da xxx)

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Plume (Kranky, 2006) is built out of the same principles (a synthetic sound over which live instruments improvise) but by a more sophisticated hand (and perhaps a cleverer intelligence). The vignettes (that are allowed more time to coalesce) create disturbing musical robots at the border between chaos and organization. Motoc evokes both Brian Eno's "before and after science" vignettes and Neu's "motorik" fantasies. The eight-minute Rorschach radiates drama from the dripping notes of the first minute, even before alien distortions and soft beats begin to populate its vast empty space. This second track sounds like the static counterweight to the dynamic first track. Zephyr is then a compromise between the two, as electronic rhythms percolate through the gentle dissonances but hardly unsettle the shimmering lake of tones. Bellows sounds like a study in contrast: "dirty" drones versus syncopated beats.
Live instruments are typically used to inject the human presence into an unhuman machinery. The glacial electronic winds of Steam assail a tide of piano notes in a somewhat darker atmosphere at an exhausting tempo. In a similar manner, an erratic xylophone dents the mechanistic ambience of Chinook, evoked by oscillating structures and steady beats. The most exciting puzzle of the album is Charlie, the longest track at almost nine minutes, whose instruments are blended into a swirling vibrating vortex and then projected into a droning black hole.
By comparison with these intense mini-symphonies, the relaxed eight-minute Halcyon and the aquatic resonance of Mistral are almost new-age music.
Having toned down and better integrated the beats, Morgan can sail towards the inner geography of the psyche in masterful ways that only Brian Eno at the peak of his art could concoct.

(Translation by/ Tradotto da Giovanni Giustini)

Plume (Kranky, 2006) e’ congegnato secondo gli stessi principi (un suono sintetico sul quale improvvisano gli strumenti), ma con una mano piu’ sofisticata (e forse da un’intelligenza piu’ acuta). Le vignette (che richiedono piu’ tempo ad amalgamarsi) creano inquietanti robot musicali al confine tra caos e organizzazione. Motoc evoca le vignette di Before And After Science di Brian Eno e le fantasie ritmiche dei Neu. Rorschach (otto minuti) irradia pathos sin dalle sgocciolanti note del primo minuto, anche prima che distorsioni aliene e soffici battiti comincino a popolare il suo ampio spazio vuoto. Questo secondo pezzo sembra il contrappeso statico alla dinamica prima traccia. Zephyr e’ quindi il compromesso fra i due, poiche’ il ritmo elettronico si infiltra nelle aggraziate dissonanze ma a malapena increspa il baluginante lago di toni. Bellows suona come uno studio sul contrasto: droni "sporchi" contro battiti sincopati. Gli strumenti live sono tipicamente usati per immettere la presenza umana in un macchinario non umano. I glaciali venti elettronici di Steam assalgono una marea di note di piano in un’atmosfera in qualche modo piu’ cupa ad un ritmo estenuante. In modo simile, un imprevedibile xilofono perfora l’atmosfera meccanicistica di Chinook, evocata da strutture oscillanti e battiti stabili. Il puzzle piu’ appassionante dell’album e’ Charlie, la traccia piu’ lunga con i suoi nove minuti, i cui strumenti sono mescolati in un roteante vortice che vibra, e poi proiettati in un buco nero di droni. Paragonate a queste intense mini sinfonie, la rilassata Halcyon (otto minuti) e le risonanze acquatiche di Mistral sono quasi new age. Avendo moderato e meglio integrato il beat, Morgan puo’ ora navigare verso la geografia interna della psiche in maniere magistrali che solo Brian Eno al culmine della sua arte poteva concepire.

Endless Falls (Kranky, 2010) continued Plume's program of evocative psychoambient music that gently blends chamber instruments, as well as Submers' watery theme albeit set in a melancholy autumnal context; and Morgan did it with quasi-classical austerity and metaphysical gravity. Occasionally reminiscent of Harold Budd's fragile static watercolors (Shallow Water Blackout, Fern and Robin), and occasionally propelled by the faintest of rhythms (Dub for Cascadia with distant choir and thick rustling noise, and The Making of Grief Point, that blends a spoken-word lecture by Destroyer's Dan Bejar with a ghostly beat and mournful variations), the music becomes an exercise in delicate maneouvres. Morgan is especially skilled at toying with the listener's psyche. Endless Falls is a case of slowly mutating repetitive minimalism with the pathos of a romantic adagio: falling waters, an undulating organ pattern, the counterpoint of an accordion-like melody, and it all ends in gracefully dancing chords. The soothing reverbed pulsation of Estuarine becomes a nerve-wracking neurosis when the background fills up with sinister glitchy sounds and with an industrial-grade rhythm. These two pieces redeem the album from complacency and misguided detours.

The EP Strathcona Variations and the album Sketches From New Brighton (2012) continued the program of First Narrows.

Loscil's Three Chords And A Cloud Of Dust (Easy Action, 2013) is a three-disc career retrospective, starting from the 1960s.

(Translation by/ Tradotto da Marco Fantin)

Endless Falls (Kranky, 2010) ha proseguito il programma di Plume di musica psychoambient evocativa, che mescola delicatamente strumenti da camera con il tema dell’acqua di Submers (anche se ambientato in un contesto di autunnale malinconia). Morgan ha fatto ciò con austerità quasi-classica e con gravità metafisica. La musica diventa un esercizio di manovre delicate, che ricordano di tanto in tanto i fragili acquerelli statici di Harold Budd (Shallow Water Blackout, Fern and Robin) e che occasionalmente si spingono sul più debole dei ritmi (in Dub for Cascadia, con un coro distante e un pesante fruscio, e in The Making of Grief Point, che combina un discorso narrato da Dan Bejar dei Destroyer con un ritmo spettrale e variazioni lugubri). Morgan è particolarmente abile a giocare con la psiche dell'ascoltatore. Endless Falls è un caso di minimalismo ripetitivo che muta dolcemente con il pathos di un adagio romantico: acqua che cade, un pattern ondulato di organo, il contrappunto di una melodia da fisarmonica, e tutto si conclude con un insieme di accordi che danzano con grazia. La rilassante e riverberata pulsazione di Estuarine diventa una nevrosi sfibrante quando lo sfondo si riempie di suoni “glitch” sinistri viene pervaso da un ritmo industrial. Questi due pezzi riscattano l'album dal compiacimento e da deviazioni sbagliate.

L’ EP Strathcona Variations e l’album Sketches From New Brighton (2012) hanno proseguito sul programma di First Narrows.

Three Chords And A Cloud Of Dust (Easy Action, 2013) è una retrospettiva in tre dischi della carriera di Loscil, a partire dal 1960.

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