[reviews] afe098lcd
pholde: aperture of the internal surface

One thing that I didn't know about Alan Bloor is that - besides various projects dealing with noise and punk - he also has a past as a jazz bassist and classical/flamenco guitarist. Thinking about this while listening to his thunderous enigmas for bowed and scraped metal sculptures, one can't help but feel a smidgen of irony, as there is nothing more distant from rasgueado and funky slapping than the superimposing roars of Pholde's records, all baptized with inscrutable titles, all sounding impressively powerful - and, on top of everything, all looking down over the average level of that musical area, which is defined "dark ambient" more for convention than real belonging.

Those who already know Bloor's treatments of long-reverb metallic waves and overwhelming amorphous tollings are in for a new chapter of a story that has very few changes in its plot, and in which new words for description are getting harder to find. But the connoisseurs want just that, as there is some kind of security in knowing that, whatever the label or title, Pholde's creations are always there - granitic, firmly standing, massive as imposing monuments, refreshing as a summer storm.

[Massimo Ricci]