The latest release from the extraordinarily prolific Jon Attwood is a double CD effort, which means another two and a half hours of melancholic guitar soundscapes. ‘When The Leaves Fall Like Snow’ uses the autumn and winter of a time spent in Sweden as its inspiration. No surprise then that this is a collection of minimal, dark and often beautiful music that is tough to listen to in one sitting but is another fine addition to the Yellow6 catalogue.
The CDs each have their own titles: ‘Fall’ and ‘Further’. The former contains fewer tracks but is the longer of the two CDs, largely thanks to its slower, more reflective take on the autumnal season. My first impressions of track one ‘Still Water’ were unavoidably linked to Labradford thanks to its mood, languid pace and use of instrumentation. ‘Street’ is undoubtedly Yellow6 though; it’s reverb-heavy guitar lines resonate with a haunting chill that will be familiar to all followers of Attwood’s previous work. The pace only picks up as the title track finds space for some skittering beats amongst the deep, dark wells of Attwood’s elongated chords. ‘Fall’ then settles down into the quietness of ‘Street Writing’ as two guitar melodies run in parallel, one twinkling and pretty, the other heavy and foreboding.
Disc two ‘Further’ is louder, more confident offering. Yet despite the harsh sounds on opening track ‘All Space’, ‘Further’ is arguably the more addictive listen. ‘You Can’t Be Everywhere He Said’, ‘Last Saturday’ and ‘Norwest Passage’ contain the kind of warmth missing from ‘Fall’, whilst ‘Everything Changes’ features cascading walls of enveloping darkness. At these times the shorter, melodic pieces tend to be more ultimately satisfying. If I were to be critical of ‘When The Leaves Fall Like Snow’ it is that the best tracks (the first half of ‘Fall’ and key moments on ‘Further’) could have been edited to a single CD but Jon Attwood has always made music for people with time on their hands. Also, even on the lesser moments, the music has a rare depth and intelligence which Attwood’s contemporaries struggle to match even on their best days.
Web Sites:
Yellow6 Official Site
Yellow6 MySpace
Make Mine Music Label Site
Further Listening:
Labradford
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