The inspiration for Tape Loop Orchestra’s new album came from three lines uttered by Humphrey Bogart in the film ‘In A Lonely Place’. To extend this to forty-five minutes of instrumental music certainly suggests the album’s composer, Andrew Hargreaves, has lived and breathed these words for some time.
The three tracks on ‘In A Lonely Place’ are largely based on hypnotic, slowly shifting drones. ‘I Was Born When She Kissed Me’ begins in busy mode, compared to the calmness from the rest of the album. However, soon the effects peel away to allow for a journey into graceful ambience. ‘I Died When She Left’ is appropriately mournful, with strings at its core but the power of the track swells beautifully to form the emotional core of the album. Then to conclude, ‘I Lived A Few Weeks When She Loved Me’ summons up the spiritual with its echoes of choral music balanced by shards of metal before converging into a wall of shimmering noise.
The techniques of drone and repetition have been the cornerstone of music for centuries and because ‘In A Lonely Place’ comprises such haunting and elegant pieces, this is the kind of record which could send a shiver down the space if it were heard in a hundred years’ time. Quite what a certain Mr. Bogart would have made of it is another question, though.
Web Sites:
Soundcloud Stream for ‘I Died When She Left Me’
Interview with Andrew Hargreaves
Further Listening:
Talvihorros
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